Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. He is a businessman and former public official known for his leadership of Tesla and SpaceX.
๐ค Early Life and Family
Musk is of British and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. His mother, Maye, is a model and dietitian born in Canada, and his father, Errol, is a South African engineer and property developer.
After his parents divorced in 1979, Elon chose to live with his father. He has a younger brother, Kimbal, a younger sister, Tosca, and four paternal half-siblings.
๐ Education and Emigration
Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and Pretoria Boys High School. He applied for a Canadian passport to avoid South Africa’s mandatory military service.
He arrived in Canada in June 1989 and entered Queen’s University in 1990. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics in 1997.
๐ป Early Business Ventures
In 1995, Musk co-founded the web software company Zip2 with his brother Kimbal and Greg Kouri. Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999.
In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services company. X.com merged with Confinity to avoid competition, and the combined company was renamed PayPal in 2001.
๐ฐ๏ธ SpaceX and Tesla
In 2002, Musk founded the space technology company SpaceX, becoming its CEO and chief engineer. He joined the automaker Tesla as an early investor in 2004 and became its CEO and product architect in 2008.
In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence research. He later established xAI, which became a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2026.
๐ฆ Twitter and Other Ventures
In 2022, Musk acquired the social network Twitter, rebranding it as X in 2023. His other businesses include the neurotechnology company Neuralink, co-founded in 2016, and the Boring Company, founded in 2017.
In November 2025, Tesla approved a pay package worth $1 trillion for Musk, to be received over 10 years if he meets specific goals.
๐๏ธ Political Role and Controversies
Musk was the largest donor in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, supporting Donald Trump. After Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, Musk served as Senior Advisor to the President and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk left the Trump administration in May 2025. His political activities and statements have made him a polarizing figure, and he has been criticized for spreading misinformation and affirming antisemitic, racist, and transphobic comments.
| Category | Detail | Year | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | Born in Pretoria, South Africa | 1971 | June 28 |
| Education | Bachelor’s degrees from University of Pennsylvania | 1997 | Physics and Economics |
| First Company | Co-founded Zip2 | 1995 | Sold for $307 million in 1999 |
| Space Company | Founded SpaceX | 2002 | CEO and chief engineer |