Who Is Elon Musk? The Man Behind Tesla and SpaceX

Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and one of the most influential — and most talked-about — business figures of his generation. He runs several companies at once, most famously the electric-car maker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX, and he owns the social platform X (formerly Twitter). In June 2026 he became the world’s first trillionaire — the richest person in history by net worth. Here’s the short version of who he is and what he does.

From South Africa to the world’s richest person

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971, moved to Canada and then the United States, and made his first fortune in tech. He co-founded a web-software company, Zip2, then the online-payments company that became PayPal. The proceeds from selling those companies funded his far bigger bets: electric cars and rockets, both widely considered too risky at the time.

The companies he runs

Musk’s reach spans an unusual range of industries:

Tesla — electric vehicles, batteries and solar energy.
SpaceX — reusable rockets, the Starlink satellite-internet network and the Starship program. It went public in a record 2026 IPO and now also owns xAI and the AI coding tool Cursor. See what SpaceX is.
X (formerly Twitter) — the social platform he bought in 2022.
xAI — his artificial-intelligence company, maker of the Grok chatbot — now folded into SpaceX. See what xAI is.
Neuralink — brain-computer interface research. See what Neuralink is.
The Boring Company — tunneling and infrastructure.

For a fuller breakdown, see our guide to every company Elon Musk owns.

How rich is he?

Thanks to SpaceX’s record June 2026 IPO, Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, with a net worth around $1.1 trillion. Most of Musk’s wealth is tied up in his ownership stakes — especially Tesla and SpaceX — rather than cash, so his net worth swings sharply with those companies’ valuations. We unpack the numbers in Elon Musk’s net worth, explained.

Why he’s so talked about

Beyond business, Musk is famous for an enormous social-media presence, bold (and often delayed) predictions, and a habit of wading into politics and public debate. That mix of genuine engineering ambition and constant controversy is why he stays in the headlines no matter what he’s shipping.

FAQ

What companies does Elon Musk own?

He runs or owns Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), xAI, Neuralink and The Boring Company, among other ventures — though X and xAI are now part of SpaceX, which has also acquired the AI coding tool Cursor. Tesla and SpaceX are the largest and best known.

How did Elon Musk get rich?

He made his first fortune selling early tech companies — Zip2 and the firm that became PayPal — then grew far wealthier through his ownership stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.

Is Elon Musk the richest person in the world?

Yes — and in June 2026 he became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX’s record IPO. Because most of his wealth is in SpaceX and Tesla shares, the exact figure still rises and falls with those valuations.

What is Elon Musk best known for?

For leading Tesla and SpaceX, owning X, and being a high-profile, often controversial public figure with huge influence over technology, markets and online conversation.

Details about public figures and their businesses change over time. This explainer reflects the current landscape and is reviewed periodically.