Elon Musk is a prominent businessman, best known for leading Tesla, SpaceX, and X. As of 2025, he serves as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump and effectively heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has held the title of the world's wealthiest individual since 2021, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $345 billion as of March 2025. He was recognized as Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2021.
In 1950, Elon Musk's maternal grandfather, Joshua N. Haldeman, moved to South Africa in support of apartheid.
On June 28, 1971, Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa.
In 1980, Elon Musk's parents divorced, and he chose to live primarily with his father.
In 1990, Elon Musk entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
In 1994, Elon Musk held two internships in Silicon Valley: one at Pinnacle Research Institute and another at Rocket Science Games.
In 1995, Elon Musk co-founded Zip2, a software company.
In 1995, Elon Musk studied at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1995, Elon Musk was accepted to a graduate program in materials science at Stanford University but did not enroll, deciding instead to join the Internet boom and applying for a job at Netscape.
In 1997, Elon Musk was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
In February 1999, Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash, and Elon Musk received $22 million for his 7-percent share.
In 1999, Elon Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company.
In 2000, Elon Musk was ousted as CEO of X.com and replaced by Peter Thiel due to technological issues and lack of a cohesive business model.
In 2001, Elon Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society and discussed funding plans to place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars.
In 2001, under Peter Thiel, X.com focused on the PayPal service and was renamed PayPal.
In May 2002, Elon Musk founded SpaceX and became the company's CEO and Chief Engineer.
In 2002, Elon Musk became a U.S. citizen. PayPal was also acquired by eBay.
In 2002, Elon Musk founded the space technology company SpaceX, becoming its CEO and chief engineer, spearheading innovations in reusable rockets and commercial spaceflight.
In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, with Elon Musk receiving $175.8 million as the largest shareholder.
In July 2003, Tesla, Inc., originally Tesla Motors, was incorporated by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
In February 2004, Elon Musk led the Series A round of investment in Tesla, investing $6.35 million, becoming the majority shareholder, and joining Tesla's board of directors as chairman.
In 2004, Elon Musk joined the automaker Tesla as an early investor.
In 2006, Elon Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which was founded by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive.
In 2007, a series of escalating conflicts occurred within Tesla.
In 2008, Elon Musk became the CEO and product architect of Tesla, which later became a leader in electric vehicles.
In 2008, Tesla began delivering the Roadster, an electric sports car, which became the first mass production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells.
In 2008, following the financial crisis and the ousting of Martin Eberhard, Elon Musk assumed leadership of Tesla as CEO and product architect.
A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Elon Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others.
In 2010, Tesla had its initial public offering.
In 2012, Elon Musk supported Barack Obama for president for the second time.
In 2012, SpaceX's Dragon vehicle docked with the ISS, a first for a commercial spacecraft.
In 2012, Tesla launched the Model S, a four-door sedan, as part of its growing line of electric vehicles.
In August 2013, Elon Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain and assigned engineers from SpaceX and Tesla to design a transport system between Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
By 2013, SolarCity had become the second-largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.
In 2014, Elon Musk promoted the idea of SolarCity building an advanced production facility in Buffalo, New York.
In December 2015, Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI, a not-for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) research company, with the aim of developing safe and beneficial artificial general intelligence.
In 2015, Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence research.
In 2015, Tesla launched the Model X, a crossover vehicle, adding to its range of electric cars.
In 2016, Elon Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup, with a $100 million investment. The company aims to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence through implantable devices.
In 2016, Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2 billion and merged it with its battery unit to create Tesla Energy. The announcement led to a drop in Tesla's stock price due to SolarCity's liquidity issues.
In 2017, Elon Musk founded the Boring Company to construct tunnels and revealed plans for specialized, underground, high-occupancy vehicles.
In 2017, Elon Musk founded the tunneling company The Boring Company.
In 2017, Elon Musk purchased the domain X.com from PayPal for an undisclosed amount.
In 2017, Tesla launched the Model 3, a mass-market sedan, marking a significant step in making electric vehicles more accessible.
In 2017, the construction of the SolarCity factory in Buffalo, New York, was completed.
In early 2017, Elon Musk expressed initial interest in buying Twitter, questioning its commitment to freedom of speech.
In 2018, the Los Angeles tunnel, less than two miles in length, debuted to journalists. It used Tesla Model Xs but was reported to be a rough ride.
In May 2019, the first large constellation of Starlink satellites was deployed.
In January 2020, Tesla directors settled a shareholder lawsuit related to the SolarCity acquisition, leaving Elon Musk as the sole remaining defendant.
In May 2020, Elon Musk resigned from his position as chairman of the board at Tesla. This action was part of a settlement with the SEC following a lawsuit concerning his tweet about securing funding to potentially take Tesla private.
In August 2020, Elon Musk acquired a second private jet, adding to his fleet used for personal travel.
In 2020, Elon Musk supported Joe Biden for president and also endorsed Andrew Yang during the Democratic Party presidential primaries.
In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to place astronauts into orbit and dock a crewed spacecraft with the ISS.
In 2020, Tesla launched the Model Y, a crossover vehicle, expanding its offerings in the electric vehicle market.
In early 2020, the joint venture between SolarCity and Panasonic came to an end.
In late 2022, Elon Musk released internal documents relating to Twitter's moderation of Hunter Biden's laptop controversy in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election.
In the summer of 2020, Tesla became the most valuable carmaker, and later that year, it entered the S&P 500.
In October 2021, Tesla achieved a market capitalization of $1 trillion, becoming the sixth company in U.S. history to reach this milestone.
In 2021, Elon Musk publicly expressed opposition to the Build Back Better Act, a legislative package endorsed by Joe Biden.
In 2021, Elon Musk was named Time magazine's Person of the Year.
In 2021, Neuralink released a video showing a macaque playing the video game Pong via a Neuralink implant.
In early 2021, a tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed by The Boring Company.
On October 27, 2022, Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter for approximately $44 billion.
In December 2022, Elon Musk banned the ElonJet account on Twitter, which tracked his flight usage, and also temporarily banned accounts of journalists who reported on the incident.
In 2022, Elon Musk acquired the social network Twitter, later rebranding it as X.
In 2022, Elon Musk announced he would begin supporting Republican Party candidates and donated over $50 million to Citizens for Sanity, a conservative political action committee.
In 2022, Neuralink announced that clinical trials would begin by the end of the year.
In 2022, a federal probe was launched into possible animal welfare violations by Neuralink.
In 2022, following the acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk fired top executives, became CEO, instituted monthly subscriptions for a "blue check", laid off staff, and lessened content moderation.
Since 2022, Elon Musk's political contributions have mostly supported Republicans, with his first vote for a Republican in the 2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election.
In June 2023, Elon Musk hosted Ron DeSantis's campaign announcement on a Twitter Spaces event.
In July 2023, Elon Musk launched the artificial intelligence company xAI, aiming to create a generative AI program to compete with existing offerings like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
In September 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved Neuralink to initiate six-year human trials.
In 2023, Elon Musk rebranded the social network Twitter as X.
In 2023, Errol Musk recounted that the deal he made was to receive "a portion of the emeralds produced at three small mines".
In 2023, Tesla launched the Cybertruck, a pickup truck, representing another addition to its electric vehicle lineup.
Since 2023, Elon Musk's international political actions and comments have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism, especially from governments and leaders of France, Germany, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.
From June 2023 to January 2024, Elon Musk hosted a bipartisan set of X Spaces with Republican and Democratic candidates.
In July 2024, Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president minutes after the attempted assassination.
In August 2024, Donald Trump committed to giving Elon Musk an advisory role, and Musk accepted the offer. The concept of DOGE emerged in a discussion between Musk and Donald Trump.
In November and December 2024, Elon Musk suggested that the organization could help to cut the U.S. federal budget, consolidate the number of federal agencies, eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and that its final stage would be "deleting itself".
Since 2024, Elon Musk started supporting international far-right political parties, activists, and causes, and has shared far-right misinformation and numerous conspiracy theories. Since 2024, his views have been generally described as right-wing.
Since the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Elon Musk has been heavily involved in politics as a vocal supporter of Trump, being the largest donor in the election.
In January 2025, Elon Musk was appointed head of Donald Trump's newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In January 2025, the organization was created by executive order, and Elon Musk was designated a "special government employee". Trump said two days later that he had put Musk in charge of DOGE.
In March 2025, Forbes estimated Elon Musk's net worth to be US$345 billion, maintaining his position as the wealthiest person in the world.
On April 30, 2025, Elon Musk would begin his departure from DOGE after exiting the White House. He plans to work remotely until his 130 day deadline as a special government employee expires.
In 2025, Elon Musk contributed $19 million to the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, hoping to influence future redistricting efforts and regulations governing car manufacturers and dealers.
In early 2025, Elon Musk was criticized for his treatment of federal government employees, including his influence over mass layoffs of the federal workforce. He has prioritized secrecy within the organization and has accused others of violating privacy laws.
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