Elon Musk seems to be everywhere these days. The tech mogul rose to prominence by advancing the electric vehicle industry and helping revive commercial spaceflight. He is also a prominent figure in the artificial intelligence sector. Building on his growing success and influence, Musk has attempted to steer the course of political conversations and even reshape the United States government according to his values — all while briefly reaching uncharted territory as the world’s first trillionaire.
What to Know About Elon Musk
Elon Musk is the CEO of electric vehicle provider Tesla and founder of aerospace company SpaceX. In his early years, Musk cut his teeth designing mapping software and leading online payments companies, helping found the business that would become PayPal. His knack for bold ideas and risk-taking served him well then and led him to bet on Tesla and SpaceX, putting him on a trajectory to briefly becoming the world’s first trillionaire in 2026.
So, how exactly has Musk ascended from anonymity to become one of the wealthiest people on the planet? Here’s everything you need to know about his beginnings, his rapid rise in the tech sector and his plans for the future as he continues to dream of expanding his tech empire beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Early Career and PayPal
Musk’s business journey began in 1995 when he left his physics PhD program at Stanford University to found Zip2 with his brother, Kimball. The pair received $28,000 from their father to get started. Zip2 provided software for local newspapers to build online directories and maps with directions, serving as a sort of digital yellow pages in the early days of the internet. Four years later, Musk sold Zip2 to Compaq Computer Corp. for $307 million.
Musk quickly pivoted to online payments with his next company, X.com. The platform was designed to support online banking services, but its payment system needed to be fleshed out. In response, Musk finalized a deal to merge X.com and Confinity, which had already developed a digital payment system called PayPal.
The merger was messy, to say the least. While Musk wanted X.com to become the company name, the board disagreed and ultimately forced his removal as CEO in 2000. Even then, Musk remained the largest shareholder of the newly minted PayPal. That’s why when PayPal’s leadership sold the company to eBay in 2002, Musk still earned $180 million from the sale. He would go on to invest this money in business ventures that have forever changed the tech industry, cementing his place among the “PayPal Mafia.”
Tesla and the Shift to AI and Robotics
One bold move Musk made was to invest in Tesla Motors, which Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded in 2003 to produce high-performance electric cars. In 2004, they sought funding from Musk, who contributed $6.5 million to become Tesla’s largest shareholder and chair of the board. Musk used this role to control the company’s direction and oust Eberhard as CEO in 2007. Eberhard and Tarpenning left Tesla shortly after and filed a lawsuit against Musk, although they legally recognized him as a founder in an out-of-court settlement.
Musk has since enjoyed much success as Tesla’s CEO, releasing popular vehicles like the Model S and Model X on his way to earning a $1 trillion pay package. That said, the company has scrapped its flagship vehicles as Musk’s attention sways toward artificial intelligence. In 2023, Musk founded xAI, best known for its Grok chatbot and Colossus supercomputer. The company is a direct competitor to OpenAI, which Musk helped found back in 2015 and is now at the heart of his fierce rivalry with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Determined to best OpenAI and its ChatGPT chatbot, Musk is transforming Tesla into a physical AI company rather than just an electric vehicle provider. Even before xAI, Musk announced plans for a humanoid prototype that has evolved into the Optimus robot. It’s still a work in progress, but the end of the Model S and X means Tesla can shift its focus to mass-producing Optimus robots as part of Musk’s quest to catch up in the AI race.
Buying Twitter and Creating X, the “Everything App”
Tesla isn’t Musk’s only acquisition to be reoriented around artificial intelligence. The social media platform X (formerly Twitter) may be his unlikeliest company, given how he often criticized it for being biased against conservatives during its early days. Determined to make the platform politically neutral, Musk set out to buy Twitter and refashion it in his image, kicking off a chaotic process that culminated in him becoming the new CEO:
- April 4, 2022: Musk is confirmed to be Twitter’s largest shareholder, hinting at a potential takeover.
- April 5, 2022: Musk is slated to join Twitter’s board of directors, although he backtracked on this decision a week later.
- April 14, 2022: Musk submits a proposal to buy Twitter for $43 billion, aiming to privatize the company.
- April 15, 2022: Twitter’s board allows shareholders to purchase stocks at a discounted price to dilute the shares of new investors. Known as a “poison pill,” this method was a clear attempt to deter Musk from buying the company.
- April 25, 2022: Despite efforts to resist Musk, Twitter leadership formally accepts his proposal to buy the company at $44 billion.
- May 17, 2022: Musk disputes Twitter’s spam account numbers and claims that the deal is on hold for the time being.
- July 12, 2022: Twitter sues Musk to force him to follow through on the deal, setting the stage for a possible legal battle.
- October 28, 2022: Musk completes his Twitter acquisition and immediately fires senior leadership, sparking speculation around the future of the company.
- July 24, 2023: Twitter is officially rebranded as “X” and adopts the X.com domain, which Musk bought back from PayPal in 2017.
A key motive behind acquiring Twitter was to revamp it as an “everything app,” according to Musk. Essentially, X would be equipped with additional features to compete with Tencent’s WeChat, which supports social media, messaging, payments, food delivery services and more. While this idea never really took off as Musk had hoped, the company’s fortunes began to trend upward after xAI’s launch in 2023.
In 2025, xAI acquired X for roughly $33 billion. Now under the xAI umbrella, X has been repurposed as a training ground for Musk’s Grok chatbot, which accesses X posts to inform its responses with real-time information. X is then another piece of Musk’s AI strategy that is quickly outgrowing Earth’s boundaries.
2026 SpaceX and xAI Merger
The other major gamble Musk bet on right after PayPal was SpaceX. He founded the company in 2002 to revolutionize rocket design, using reusable materials to develop a cheaper, more efficient launch process. SpaceX’s main mission is still to establish a “spacefaring civilization,” but it’s also been pulling double-duty as a springboard for Musk’s AI ambitions.
In February 2026, Musk announced that SpaceX had acquired xAI — a move some viewed as a bailout of the plateauing AI startup. That said, this acquisition gave SpaceX the momentum needed to go public a few months later, resulting in a monster IPO that has placed immense pressure on other AI giants preparing to go public.
At the heart of the SpaceX-xAI merger is Musk’s goal of launching orbital data centers, or networks of satellites outfitted with the infrastructure to store and process data involved in AI workloads. Data centers’ energy demands and environmental costs have led states to consider moratoriums, which Musk wants to sidestep by repurposing satellites owned by his broadband internet company, Starlink, to secure more compute power. SpaceX may also partner with Google on orbital data centers, giving Musk a leg up in bringing the AI race to space.
Current Projects
Besides orbital data centers, here are some of the other initiatives that Musk’s companies are currently working on:
- Terafab Project: The Terafab project is a joint venture between SpaceX and Tesla to build a mega-complex producing 1 terawatt of compute power per year.
- Starmind Project: The Starmind project is the next stage of Musk’s orbital data center plan. This phase involves launching 1 million of SpaceX’s AI1 satellites, which are specifically designed to handle AI workloads in space.
- Starship Rocket: Starship is SpaceX’s rocket intended to carry astronauts and cargo to the Moon and Mars. The spacecraft is key to SpaceX beating out Blue Origin for the right to support NASA’s Artemis missions.
- Tesla Robotaxis: Tesla is developing a fleet of self-driving vehicles that will provide rideshare services. The cars are being tested in Miami, and a wheelchair-accessible version is in progress.
- Neuralink: Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink is designing brain-computer interfaces that can be implanted into humans, who then control the devices with their thoughts. So far, Neuralink has embedded its interface in 21 patients.
- The Boring Company: The Boring Company is Musk’s transportation company that builds underground tunnels to reduce urban traffic. The end goal is to create a hyperloop — a low-pressure tube that transports passengers in metal pods at top speeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What companies does Elon Musk own?
Elon Musk’s portfolio consists of the following businesses:
- Tesla, a self-driving electric car company branching out into robotics.
- SpaceX, an aerospace company that emphasizes reusability in its rocket design.
- X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter before Musk acquired it.
- xAI, an AI startup that designs AI models, chatbots and AI infrastructure.
- Neuralink, a neurotechnology company that creates brain-computer interfaces, which humans can control with their thoughts.
- The Boring Company, a transportation company that aims to build high-speed tunnels beneath urban areas.
Is Elon Musk the richest person in the world?
Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world, according to Forbes. He was briefly the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX went public, although a stock drop-off returned Musk to the billionaire’s club.
Did SpaceX merge with xAI?
Yes, SpaceX acquired xAI in February 2026. While the move was seen as a possible bailout of xAI, it also gave SpaceX the capital it needed to announce a massive IPO in June 2026, propelling Musk to trillionaire status along the way.
What is the Starmind project?
The Starmind project is SpaceX’s plan to launch 1 million of its AI1 satellites, which are built specifically for AI workloads. Starmind will bring SpaceX one step closer to fulfilling Musk’s goal of establishing orbital data centers, or networks of satellites that can complete complex computations in space to power AI products and infrastructure on Earth.
Did Elon Musk found Tesla?
No, Elon Musk did not found Tesla. The electric vehicle maker was actually founded by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who reached out to Musk in 2004 for additional funding. Musk contributed $6.5 million in Tesla’s next funding round, immediately establishing himself as Tesla’s largest shareholder and chair of the board. In this position, Musk gained enough influence to steer the company and eventually oust Eberhard and Tarpenning, later becoming a legal co-founder of Tesla as part of a 2009 lawsuit.
