Elon Reeve Musk is a South African-born Canadian-American billionaire entrepreneur, investor, and the self-proclaimed Technoking of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and CEO of SpaceX. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971, his life was marked by early academic promise, intense bullying (leading to severe injury), and a consuming interest in science and technology (teaching himself code at age 10 and selling the video game Blastar at age 12).

Musk left South Africa in 1989 to avoid mandatory military service (which supported the apartheid regime), leveraging his Canadian-born mother's citizenship. He earned a B.A. in Physics and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School) in 1997. He briefly enrolled at Stanford University for a PhD but dropped out after two days to join the internet boom. His career is defined by tackling what he views as existential risks to humanity: climate risk (Tesla), single-planet dependency risk (SpaceX), and human species obsolescence risk (Neuralink).

Elon Musk’s career is defined by a series of bold, high-stakes ventures that have reshaped multiple industries.

• 1995 — Zip2
  Co-founded a web software company providing business directories and maps for newspapers. Zip2 was sold to Compaq in 1999 for $307 million.
• 1999 — X.com / PayPal
  Co-founded an online financial services company that later became PayPal. The company was acquired by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, securing Musk’s initial massive fortune.
• 2002 — SpaceX
  Founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) with the goal of reducing space transportation costs through reusable rockets and enabling commercial spaceflight.
• 2004 — Tesla
  Joined Tesla Motors (now Tesla, Inc.) and led its transformation into a global leader in electric vehicles and clean energy, including solar power initiatives through SolarCity.
• 2016 — Neuralink & The Boring Company
  Founded Neuralink, focused on brain-computer interfaces, and The Boring Company, aimed at revolutionizing transportation through underground tunneling.

Musk repeatedly risked his personal fortune to fund these ventures. His net worth has fluctuated significantly with the stock performance of Tesla and the valuation of SpaceX, making him the world’s richest person during multiple periods.

His career has been marked by controversy, high-profile lawsuits, and intense public scrutiny, alongside an aggressive and transformational vision for the future of technology and humanity.

Elon Musk's social impact is massive and structural, tied to his self-stated mission of solving existential threats to humanity. Tesla accelerates the shift away from fossil fuels, and SpaceX ensures humanity becomes a multi-planetary species. The Musk Foundation supports science education, renewable energy research, and pediatric research.

His structural contribution is the successful commercialization of spaceflight and the transformation of the automotive industry. His public persona, though controversial, fuels global discourse on the future of technology, AI, and colonization.

Elon Musk maintains the unconventional, high-profile style of a visionary entrepreneur. His attire is often casual (t-shirts, leather jackets) or features unique, custom-made pieces (e.g., futuristic suits for public appearances). His aesthetic is defined by his association with science fiction and his relentless focus on technological innovation.

His luxury is the profound security and autonomy derived from his multi-billion dollar fortune, which he leverages to pursue his audacious technological visions. His life is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of physics, engineering, and human civilization.