Elon Musk

Elon Musk is a South African-born American entrepreneur who founded [[SpaceX]], led [[Tesla]] as chief executive officer, and co-founded PayPal. He is also the founder of [[Neuralink]] and The Boring Company, acquired Twitter (renamed X) in 2022, and founded [[xAI]] in 2023. He has been the world's richest person for much of the 2020s, with a peak net worth of $852 billion in March 2026.[^c1]

Musk's business career began with the founding of Zip2 in 1995, followed by X.com (later PayPal). Since 2002, he has built SpaceX into a dominant launch provider,[^c2] developed the [[Starlink]] satellite internet network, and led Tesla through the mass-market adoption of electric vehicles. His companies pursue ambitious goals including reusable rocketry, brain-computer interfaces, humanoid robots, and space colonization.

In 2025, Musk served as de facto head of the [[DOGE|Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)]] in Donald Trump's second administration, overseeing large-scale reductions to the federal workforce.[^c3] He has been a prominent political donor and figure, and in July 2025 he founded the American Party.[^c4] His public feud with Trump in mid-2025 was followed by a reconciliation in January 2026.[^c5]