Elon Musk biography, net worth, nationality, wife, children, house, age 2025

Biography of Elon Musk

Elon Reeve Musk is a Canadian-American entrepreneur, innovator, engineer-inventor, and business magnate who invests in groundbreaking innovative projects.

The founder and head of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, co-founder of SolarCity and PayPal, this tech visionary, as he's often called in the press, has personally spearheaded the development of cutting-edge technologies in alternative energy, the design of eco-friendly electric cars, and affordable solar power systems.

He's worked on creating superhuman-level artificial intelligence with OpenAI, developed the conceptual high-speed transport system Hyperloop (twice as fast as a plane), and designed spacecraft to achieve his ultimate goal – establishing a human colony on Mars.

This recognized genius of our time brings together persistence, sharp critical thinking, precise analysis of events and his own actions, incredible diligence, and an unmatched work ethic. Musk famously dedicates up to 100 hours a week to his work.

Elon Musk's fortune: $402 billion (as of 2025)

Forbes placed Musk 21st on the list of the world's most influential people, making him one of the youngest people in this ranking, trailing only Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google creators Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Uber founder Travis Kalanick.

As of February 2022, Elon Musk's fortune reached an estimated $402 billion (compared to $219 billion at the start of 2022, and just $20.9 billion in 2018).

Childhood and Family

Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, one of South Africa's three capitals. He was the eldest of three children born to Errol Musk, a South African engineer, and Maye Musk, a Canadian-British model and nutrition expert.

Elon has a younger brother, Kimbal, born in 1972, and a sister, Tosca, born in 1974. While Kimbal may not have reached his older brother's level of success, he's built his own fortune in the restaurant industry, and Tosca has made her mark as a film producer.

Elon Musk as a Child with His Brother and Sister

When their parents divorced in 1980, Elon and his siblings went to live with their father in a Pretoria suburb, rarely seeing their mother. Errol owned several houses, a farm with purebred horses, and a yacht.

Little Elon (Right) with His Mother, Brother, and Sister

The family traveled extensively—trips might begin in Europe, then continue to Hong Kong, with stops in the States along the way. Since Elon's father had a pilot's license, he sometimes rented a plane for work trips, taking the children with him. As a child, Elon even visited an emerald mine where his father helped establish the excavation operation. In adulthood, Elon also obtained a pilot's license but has no time for this hobby.

In His Youth, Elon Musk (Left) Was a Shy Child

Elon learned to read early and spent most of his free time with books. At just three years old, he stunned his father by asking: "Where does the world begin and end?" He grew up as an introvert, avoided peers, and didn't get along well with people. At his private boys' school, he frequently faced bullying from classmates. One incident left him beaten unconscious and requiring hospitalization.

At the age of nine, Elon received his first computer, a Commodore VIC-20, as a gift. He taught himself the popular programming languages of the era and developed a passion for creating programs. At 12, he coded a shooter video game called Blastar in BASIC and sold it for $500 to PC & Office Technologies, which published the code in one of their issues.

A Game Developed by 12-Year-Old Elon Musk

Education

In 1988, Musk graduated from high school and enrolled at the University of Pretoria, but due to political instability in South Africa, he moved to Canada just before his 18th birthday. Since his mother was Canadian, Elon also obtained citizenship there. This marked the beginning of the most unusual period of his life: Elon entered the undergraduate program at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, while juggling numerous jobs across Canada, each with its own story.

Elon Musk during his studies at the university in Canada

Initially, he picked fruits and hauled grain baskets on a farm with his relatives in Waldeck, then worked as a lumberjack in Vancouver. He earned next to nothing cutting logs with a chainsaw. After quitting, he registered with the employment office and requested a job with better pay, which led to a position as a boiler room cleaner at a sawmill. For $18 an hour (which was actually good money in 1989), he crawled around in a suit made of heat-resistant but toxic material, cleaning debris in scorching temperatures.

During this time, his younger brother also moved to Canada. Teaming up, Elon and Kimbal aimed to forge useful connections. By any means necessary, they tracked down the phone numbers of successful entrepreneurs and cold-called them, inviting them to lunch. One who accepted was Peter Nicholson, head of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Impressed by the young men's persistence, he met them in person and decided to mentor Elon, the more gifted Musk brother. Elon worked at his bank for an entire summer, earning less than in the boiler room – $14 an hour.

Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal at the beginning of their road to great success

In 1992, Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, USA. He studied simultaneously at the College of Arts and Sciences and the Wharton School of Business at the university. Spending an extra year at the university, in May 1997, he received two bachelor's degrees: in physics and economics. While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, Musk befriended Adeo Ressi, the future founder of TheFunded. The friends rented a ten-bedroom house and turned it into an underground nightclub, which became very popular among students. While everyone got drunk, Musk stayed sober to keep things under control. In just one night, he could earn enough money to cover the monthly rent of this giant mansion. The rest he spent on college tuition.

Musk enrolled in Stanford graduate school but turned down a place after 2 days

In 1995, 24-year-old Elon moved to California, where he became a graduate student at the legendary Stanford University to pursue a Ph.D. in physics. He had many ambitious ideas in IT, renewable energy, and space exploration. But after just 2 days, he changed his mind and decided to continue working on his project

First Business Ventures

In 1995, in partnership with his brother Kimbal and business coach Greg Kouri, Elon founded his first company, Zip2, a "Yellow Pages" format website specializing in maps and directories for online publications. The initial capital of $28,000 was offered by his father, but Elon refused to take it. Musk worked from early morning until late at night and lived in a rented office to save on housing costs and invest all the money into the company.

His relentless hustle paid off big time. The internet was absolutely exploding at the time, and in 1999 the brothers sold their startup for $307 million in cash (and $34 million in securities) to the search engine AltaVista, which was later acquired by Compaq. Elon, who owned only 7% of the company at that point, earned $22 million from the sale.

1999: Young Elon Musk became a dollar millionaire

Musk poured $12 million of this windfall into online bank X.com, convinced that electronic payment systems were the future. In 2001, X.com merged with the competing company Confinity. The new enterprise was named PayPal. As the majority shareholder (and capitalizing on boardroom drama after the merger), Elon Musk grabbed the CEO position at PayPal.

Elon Musk was one of the founders of PayPal

In 2002, despite Musk's objections, the Board of Directors greenlit PayPal's sale to trading giant eBay for $1.5 billion. After taxes, Musk received $180 million. Now he had the cash to chase his ambitious plans for solar energy and space.

Establishment of SpaceX

Back in 2001, Musk developed a project for creating an experimental greenhouse on Mars, which would initiate a closed and self-sustaining ecosystem on the regolith, potentially aiding in the colonization of the Red Planet. He wanted to rekindle public fascination with space exploration, which had seriously tanked after the Soviet Union collapsed and the superpower space race ended.

In October 2001, along with Adeo Ressi and space equipment engineer Jim Cantrell, Musk traveled to Moscow. The goal of the trip was to purchase refurbished intercontinental ballistic missiles "Dnepr," which he needed for experiments in delivering cargo to space. They met with aircraft designer Semyon Lavochkin and the management of Kosmotras, the company that developed these "Dneprs." However, the purchase fell through – Elon was refused the missiles, deemed insufficiently experienced in this matter. The second attempt also failed. Six months later, Musk tried again and was offered one missile for $8 million.

Evolution of SpaceX Rockets (2002-2023)

The price seemed outrageous to Elon. He refused, and during the flight home, he had an idea: why not start his own company to build similar – or even better – rockets? His calculations showed that building one rocket would cost just 3% of what Kosmotras was asking. Plus, he planned to slash launch costs by 70% using reusable rockets.

In May 2002, the company Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX for short, was founded. Musk poured $100 million into the venture and then secured major investments from DARPA (the US Department of Defense agency) and companies like SpaceDev, Celestis, and ATSB. The first two models of launch vehicles were the light carrier Falcon-1 and the medium-lift carrier Falcon-9. The name was a nod to the "Millennium Falcon," Han Solo's ship from "Star Wars." The first spacecraft developed by Musk's company was called Dragon.

In 2006, NASA signed a $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX for the delivery of 12 cargo missions to the ISS. In September 2008, a privately funded rocket successfully reached Earth's orbit for the first time in history. This was Falcon-1. Elon had bet everything on this moment – if the launch failed, SpaceX would probably be finished. On June 4, 2010, Falcon-9 was successfully launched.

On May 25, 2012, Dragon – launched by Falcon-9 – docked with the ISS for the first time. That same year, SpaceX landed its first commercial contract: launching an Intelsat satellite using the still-developing Falcon Heavy.

On December 22, 2015, Falcon-9 made its first vertical landing on a landing pad at Cape Canaveral. The rocket had crashed into the Atlantic twice before, but the third time was the charm – and marked a space exploration milestone. Reusing rockets meant massive cost savings.

Elon Musk Celebrated the Falcon Heavy Launch

In February 2018, SpaceX pulled off another stunning feat: the Falcon Heavy rocket – designed to haul heavy cargo (over 60 tons to Earth's orbit) – launched a Tesla Roadster into space, complete with a camera capturing the view.

The launch was successful, but upon landing, the central of the three boosters failed to reduce speed and crashed into the ocean. The two side boosters landed exactly at their designated location.

Other Projects of Elon Musk

In July 2003, Musk invested in Tesla Motors, a startup founded by inventors Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning that was positioning itself as a pioneer in mass-produced electric vehicles.

Musk's official salary at Tesla is one dollar a year

Musk got personally involved in developing the Tesla Roadster sports car, which was based on the British Lotus Elise. He significantly reduced the car's weight, enhanced the battery compartment, and redesigned the headlight construction. This work earned Elon the Global Green-2006 ecology award and helped him secure $100 million in Tesla investments.

The same Tesla Roadster is now plowing through space

Despite facing business challenges and miscalculations that forced layoffs, Tesla avoided bankruptcy thanks to a $50 million investment from German automaker Daimler and a favorable loan from the US Department of Energy.

Supercut: Tesla Semi Truck/Roadster 2.0 event in less than 9 minutes

Tesla's success sparked the electric vehicle revolution: every major automaker started developing their own electric cars or hybrids. In 2010, Tesla became the first American car company in over 50 years to go public (the previous one was Ford in 1956).

The company's financial success got a major boost from the launch of its premium Model S sedan. Public interest in the billionaire's project was sparked by his heated exchanges with a New York Times reporter. He predicted that within 20 years, over 50% of new cars would run on electric power. As a result, just in the first half of 2013, 10,500 Tesla Model S cars were sold.

When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars, people said, 'No, thanks. What's wrong with a horse?' Ford took a big risk and it worked.

The entrepreneur is also developing charging stations for electric vehicles through SolarCity, a company founded by his cousins.

Elon Musk is working on solar panels of the future

The company specializes in installing solar power systems for both commercial and residential use. This includes charging platforms for Tesla vehicles and home systems that convert solar energy. By early 2018, SolarCity was valued at $3 billion.

In August 2013, Musk unveiled his plan for Hyperloop, a revolutionary transportation network. The project proposed a completely new form of transport that would be twice as fast as airplanes, solar-powered, and running on flexible schedules with frequent departures like subway trains.

Hyperloop would feature an enclosed elevated system of two parallel tubes lined with massive solar panels. The proposed route would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, covering 560 kilometers. Musk claimed his system could cover this distance in just 35 minutes, with an estimated cost of $6 billion.

Musk didn't plan to personally develop Hyperloop himself (though SpaceX and Tesla later teamed up to create a capsule that hit speeds of 355 km/h). Instead, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies took over development, working with volunteer engineers and crowdfunding, alongside Virgin Hyperloop One. The latter conducted tests of a vacuum capsule model in December 2017, which accelerated to 387 km/h.

The billionaire inventor has repeatedly pushed for public oversight of AI and neural network research. He's convinced AI threatens humanity, believing machines will eventually overpower humans.

Being a house cat for machines – that's the future of humanity.

Nevertheless, in 2016, Elon founded the neurotechnology company Neuralink. The plan was for employees to work on treating brain diseases short-term using neural interfaces, while "enhancing humans" by connecting brains to computers. Musk promised to develop "neural lace" by 2027 – tiny implants that boost cognitive abilities.

Elon Musk in Movies

Like other famous billionaires (remember Donald Trump's "Home Alone" cameo), Musk occasionally pops up in TV shows, even ones that poke fun at him.

The SpaceX founder has appeared in "The Simpsons" ("The Musk Who Fell to Earth") and "South Park" ("Handicar"), plus the action flick "Machete Kills" with Danny Trejo.

He also cameos in "Iron Man 2" with Robert Downey Jr. (Musk is actually considered the real-life inspiration for Tony Stark). He's also appeared as himself on "The Big Bang Theory" and its prequel "Young Sheldon." In one episode of the latter, the creation of the "reusable" Falcon rocket is humorously played out.

Elon Musk On The Big Bang Theory

The businessman, who's working to make space tourism accessible, once owned a Czech-made Aero L-39 jet trainer. He later bought a Dassault Falcon 900, which appeared in the 2005 film "Thank You for Smoking." Musk didn't just produce the film – he also had a cameo as a pilot opening the door for Robert Duvall's captain character. Musk also owned the Wet Nellie car-submarine from the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" (built from a Lotus Esprit).

Elon's sister is also involved in filmmaking – she owns the film company Musk Entertainment.

2020s

Elon Musk's ultimate vision remains creating a human colony on Mars. In a 2011 interview, he predicted the first settlers would reach the Red Planet within two decades. By 2040, Musk predicts 80,000 people will live on Mars.

Work continues on the BFR – Big Falcon Rocket – a launch vehicle and spacecraft capable of carrying 150 tons. The BFR is expected to replace previous Falcon generations and become the primary vehicle for transporting cargo and people to Mars.

On May 30, 2020, the historic launch of the crewed spacecraft Crew Dragon took place. SpaceX built both the spacecraft and its accompanying equipment. After 19 hours, on May 31, Crew Dragon (also known as Dragon 2) docked with the ISS, delivering astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the station.

NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon Launch

The launch made history as the first time a private company launched a crewed spacecraft. This opens up possibilities for space tourism: Crew Dragon can carry 7 people. The second launch took place in November of the same year.

In 2021, Elon Musk topped the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, displacing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Throughout 2020, the entrepreneur's fortune grew to $199.9 billion thanks to rising SpaceX share values. By March 2022, his fortune reached $219 billion. Forbes named him the richest person in the world. In April of the same year, he acquired the social network Twitter for $44 billion.

Elon Musk's Personal Life

The billionaire and philanthropist, who donated $10 million for AI research, has been married twice.

Elon Musk and his wife Justine in their youth

He met his first wife, Justine Wilson, while studying at a Canadian university. She's a year older than Musk – maybe that's why he didn't make much of an impression on her at first, but he eventually won her over. After graduation, they went their separate ways for a while, but the couple married in 2000.

In 2002, they had a son, Nevada Alexander Musk, who tragically died of SIDS at 10 weeks old. After this tragedy, Elon withdrew into himself for a while. In 2004, the couple turned to IVF to have children, and twins Griffin and Damian were born. In 2006, Justine became a mother again through IVF, this time welcoming triplets Xavier, Saxon, and Kai.

Elon Musk spends 4 days a week with his children

Over time, their marriage began to deteriorate. The entrepreneur spent long hours at work and little time with his family. In 2008, Justine filed for divorce. The former spouses maintain a relationship and share custody of their children.

The billionaire has often complained about his lack of time for relationships: 'I can allocate 5-10 hours a week for a woman... Is 10 hours of attention enough? Will that be sufficient for a woman?'.

The businessman remarried in September 2010. He chose English actress Talulah Riley, whom he started dating shortly after his divorce. The press painted her as a 'cunning beauty' who allegedly stole the businessman away from his family. But their romance was anything but smooth.

Elon Musk's second wife is Talulah Riley

Just a year and a half after their wedding, Musk filed for divorce from Talulah. In summer 2013, they remarried, giving their relationship a second chance. In December 2014, Elon filed for divorce again, only to withdraw the papers six months later. Finally, in March 2016, the couple decided to call it quits for good 'by mutual consent.'

Elon dated actress Amber Heard for about a year, who had just gone through a messy divorce with Johnny Depp. In August 2017, they broke up.

Elon Musk and Amber Heard dated for about a year

"Amber constantly lied to Elon. She said she spent the night at home when she was actually partying at a club. When she went to shoot in Australia, she acted as if she didn't have a boyfriend. But she didn't hesitate to use Elon's credit card while shopping," claimed a source close to the billionaire to Metro.

In May 2018, Musk appeared in public with a new partner – 30-year-old singer Grimes (real name Claire Boucher). They made their debut together at the annual Met Gala in New York. The couple's origin story is pure internet: Musk wanted to tweet "Rococo Basilisk" – a mashup of the virtual reality thought experiment "Roko's Basilisk" and the rococo architectural style – only to discover Grimes had already used the phrase in one of her videos. They started talking, and Twitter users soon spotted Musk's bizarre comments on Grimes' posts – including his theory that comets are actually made of cocaine.

In May 2020, Grimes and Elon welcomed their first child. They gave their son the head-turning name X Æ A-12 (pronounced "Ex Ash A-Twelve"). While the concept was Grimes' brainchild, the A-12 pays tribute to Musk's favorite fighter jet. The X represents its standard algebraic meaning – an unknown variable. According to Musk, Æ stands for Artificial Intelligence in elvish.

In September 2021, Musk announced that he and Grimes had split after three years, though they maintained they were still close and saw each other frequently.

In March 2022, Grimes dropped a bombshell in a Vanity Fair interview: she and Musk had welcomed a second child via surrogate – a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl. Hours after the article went live, Grimes clarified their relationship status:

I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we have very fluid relationships. We live in separate houses. We are best friends. We see each other all the time... We just have our own thing going on, and I don't expect others to understand.

Just weeks before his daughter with Grimes was born, Musk had welcomed twins with Shivon Zilis, Neuralink's director of operations. The nature of their relationship remained murky – they never publicly confirmed being a couple, even after Zilis had another child with Musk in summer 2024.

Elon Musk and Shivon Zilis are sitting in chairs on the porch, each holding a baby — Elon Musk, Shivon Zilis, and their children

In September 2023, news broke that Musk and Grimes had quietly welcomed another child – a son named Tau Techno Mechanicus. The exact date of his birth is unknown. The revelation surfaced in Walter Isaacson's biography "Elon Musk," which offered an in-depth look at the tech mogul's life.

On February 15, 2025, news broke that Musk had welcomed another son—his thirteenth child. The announcement came from the child's mother, 26-year-old conservative activist Ashley St. Clair, five months after the baby's birth.

Full-length girl with long black hair, wearing a fitted black dress — Ashley St. Clair

Here's how Elon Musk's typical workweek breaks down. Mondays start at his Bel-Air mansion (in one of LA's most exclusive neighborhoods) before heading to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne. He'll spend the night at work, then fly by private jet on Tuesday to Palo Alto—Silicon Valley's epicenter and home to Tesla's headquarters. Thursday brings him back to LA for SpaceX inspections. Throughout it all, he makes time for his sons at least four times a week.

Musk has established a charitable foundation bearing his name. He's donated portions of his wealth to disaster relief efforts, including hurricane recovery in Alabama and tsunami aid in Soma, Japan.

Elon Musk Now

On October 6, 2024, Elon Musk took the stage at a Pennsylvania rally, throwing his support behind Donald Trump's bid for a second term. While this marked the billionaire's first public Trump endorsement—declaring "Trump must win"—their relationship actually dates back to 2016, when Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick served as business advisors to the presidential office.

Elon Musk jumps on stage as Donald Trump speaks from the podium — Elon Musk at a rally in support of Trump in Pennsylvania

In the 2020 election, Musk supported Democratic candidate Joe Biden. But by 2022, he'd grown disillusioned with the Democratic Party. He frequently clashed publicly with party figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who criticized his handling of the platform formerly known as Twitter, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, who accused him of dodging taxes.

By May 2022, Musk announced he'd be voting Republican. In October 2024, he poured $75 million into his own America PAC committee backing Trump.

After Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, Elon Musk was appointed chairman of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE - an abbreviation referencing the meme coin Dogcoin). In this role, he's launched sweeping reforms designed to streamline government operations. One of his first moves was freezing operations at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting funding to hundreds of projects worldwide.

Under Musk's direction, DOGE also secured access to the U.S. Treasury Department's payment system that handles all government transactions.

Elon Musk: latest news and articles

Genius, Eccentric, Visionary: The Real Elon Musk in 7 Facts About His Life

7 Nov 2024

Anne Gair

Maria Brewer, It would be interesting to be one of that group!!!

2022-11-15 00:38:36
John Wise

I watched an interview with Elon Musk`s mother. Now I understand why he grew up so tough. He has an example and upbringing at a height

2021-05-16 15:35:28
Maria Brewer

Interestingly, and when all the same will fly into space? Elon Musk wanted to send a small group to live on Mars. It would be interesting to see this.

2021-05-14 13:54:46
Jonathan Jones

The future belongs to Elon Musk, one hundred percent. Well, for his followers, just as smart

2021-05-07 21:51:16
Rosa Stewart

I have long dreamed of a Tesla car! Musk is certainly a genius of technology!

2021-04-28 23:15:36
Rodney Rice

Haha, I love Elon Musk. Brainy, so also with a subtle humor guy.

2021-04-04 12:15:44

Photos: Elon Musk