Musk is the chief executive of Tesla, the world's most valuable carmaker. The Austin, Texas-based company sells electric vehicles and home solar batteries. Musk's also the chief executive of SpaceX, a rocket manufacturer tapped by NASA to resupply the space station, and owns social networking company X, previously known as Twitter.
Musk is CEO of publicly traded Tesla, the world's most valuable carmaker, and closely held rocket business SpaceX.
Musk owns about 13% of Tesla, according to an April 2023 regulatory filing. He also holds about 304 million exercisable stock options from his 2018 compensation package. On Jan. 30, 2024, this compensation package was voided by a Delaware judge. The options were not immediately removed from the calculation pending additional information on how the ruling would be implemented and a possible appeal.
SpaceX is valued using a December 2023 tender offer valuing the company at about $180 billion. Musk owns about 42% of the closely held company through a trust based on a December 2022 filing with the Federal Communications Commission and Bloomberg's dilution calculations.
He's calculated to own about 79% of X Corp after acquiring it for $44 billion in 2022. Formerly known as Twitter, the company's value has since fallen by about 73% based on the carrying value assigned by investor Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund in their April 2024 filing.
Musk is calculated to own 69% of biotechnology startup Neuralink, based on his initial investment and dilution from subsequent funding rounds, according to data from Pitchbook. It was valued at $3.5 billion in November 2023. A 15% liquidity discount is applied.
Musk had pledged 58% of his Tesla shares to secure personal indebtedness, according to the company's 2023 proxy. The maximum loan could be no more than the lesser of 25% of the value of those shares or $3.5 billion, according to the filing, and a $3.5 billion loan is included. Musk said in 2019 that some of his SpaceX shares were pledged. A liability is included to reflect calculated pledges of SpaceX shares assuming he has pledged 58% of his holding at a 25% loan-to-value ratio.
Born in South Africa to an engineer father and nutritionist mother, Musk left home as a 17-year-old for college in Canada, in part to avoid serving in the apartheid-era South African army. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in physics and economics, he enrolled at Stanford University. He dropped out after his first few days to pursue his three main areas of interest: the Internet, clean energy and space.
He created an online publishing platform called Zip2 in 1995 and sold it four years later for more than $300 million. He reinvested some of the proceeds to start X.com, an online payment system. He would merge that with what eventually became PayPal, the e-commerce site that was ultimately sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002.
His next project: SpaceX, a closely held rocket company that was tapped by NASA to take over space shuttle's role of resupplying the International Space Station. A year later, he co-founded Tesla, the company that produced the world's first all-electric, zero-emission sports car in 2010. In the same year the company sold shares in a public offering.
His third company, SolarCity, was a provider of solar power systems. SolarCity sold shares in a public offering in 2012 and was bought by Tesla on Nov. 21, 2016.
Musk, who has said he intends to retire on planet Mars, joined Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge in April 2012.
Tesla became the world's most valuable carmaker in July 2020 and further gains led to Musk becoming the world's richest person in January 2021. He announced in October 2021 that Tesla would move its headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas.
In April 2022 Musk made an offer to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion after acquiring a stake in the social-media firm. After its board agreed to recommend the deal, Musk spent months trying to terminate it. Musk eventually purchased Twitter in October 2022. He renamed the company X Corp. in April 2023.