Elon Musk
CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the world’s richest person
- Age
- 55 yrs
- Birthday in 235 days
- Works listed
- 0
- Career highlights
- Honours
- 2
- Most recent 2021
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Elon Musk is a South African-born businessman who leads Tesla and SpaceX. He co-founded PayPal’s forerunner, made electric cars mainstream at Tesla and built SpaceX into the leading launch company with reusable rockets. He bought Twitter in 2022, renamed it X, founded xAI and briefly led a US government cost-cutting effort in 2025.
Biography
Early life
Musk was born in Pretoria and taught himself programming, selling a video game at 12. He moved to Canada in 1989 and then to the United States, earning degrees in physics and economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Zip2 and PayPal
In 1995 he co-founded Zip2, an online city-guide company sold in 1999. He then co-founded X.com, which merged with Confinity to form PayPal; eBay bought it in 2002.
SpaceX and Tesla
Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. Its Falcon 9 rockets land and are reused, its Dragon capsules carry NASA astronauts and its Starlink satellites provide internet worldwide. He invested in Tesla in 2004 and became CEO in 2008; the Model S and Model 3 helped make electric cars mainstream.
X, AI and politics
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 and renamed it X. He co-founded OpenAI in 2015, later left and founded xAI in 2023, which became part of SpaceX in 2026. In 2025 he led the Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration before leaving. He has been the world’s richest person since 2025.
Timeline
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1971
Born in Pretoria, South Africa
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1995
Co-founds Zip2
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1999
Founds X.com
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2002
PayPal sold to eBay; founds SpaceX
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2008
Tesla CEO; Falcon 1 reaches orbit
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2015
First Falcon 9 booster landing
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2020
SpaceX flies NASA astronauts
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2022
Buys Twitter
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2025
Leads DOGE
Awards and honours
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Fellow of the Royal Society
2018
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John Fritz Medal
2021
Did you know?
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1
He holds South African, Canadian and US citizenship.
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2
Tesla is named after the inventor Nikola Tesla.
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3
In 2026 he became the first person estimated to be worth more than $1 trillion.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk is a South African-born businessman who leads Tesla and SpaceX. He co-founded PayPal’s forerunner, made electric cars mainstream at Tesla and built SpaceX into the leading launch company with reusable rockets. He bought Twitter in 2022, renamed it X, founded xAI and briefly led a US government cost-cutting effort in 2025.
How old is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk is 55 years old, born on 28 June 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa.
Where is Elon Musk from?
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa.
What is Elon Musk known for?
Elon Musk is best known for SpaceX; Tesla; PayPal; buying Twitter (X); xAI; Neuralink; Department of Government Efficiency.
What awards has Elon Musk received?
Notable honours include Fellow of the Royal Society (2018), John Fritz Medal (2021).
References
- Elon Musk — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Elon Musk — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Elon Musk — IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Elon Musk — Spotify. Spotify. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Elon Musk — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Elon Musk — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Elon Musk (Q317521) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Elon Musk”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Elon Musk.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/elon-musk
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