Elon Musk

Chose not to enroll at Stanford and co-founded Zip2 instead during the early internet boom

This bet on the internet over academia launched his entrepreneurial career. Zip2's $307 million sale gave him $22 million to fund his next ventures, setting the foundation for everything that followed.

Invested $100 million of his $175.8 million PayPal windfall to found SpaceX

This massive personal bet on an industry with no successful private companies was seen as crazy. SpaceX became the first private company to send astronauts to the ISS and revolutionized space with reusable rockets, making him a key figure in the new space race.

Led Tesla's Series A with $6.5 million investment and became deeply involved in the struggling electric car startup

Tesla became the first successful American car company in 111 years and made electric vehicles mainstream. This decision transformed both the automotive industry and Musk's net worth, which now sits at $852 billion largely due to his 20% Tesla stake.

Put his remaining personal funds into Tesla and SpaceX during the financial crisis when both companies were near bankruptcy

With only a few hundred thousand dollars left, this all-in decision saved both companies. SpaceX's fourth Falcon 1 launch succeeded, securing NASA contracts, while Tesla survived to eventually go public in 2010. Without this moment, neither company would exist today.

Acquired Twitter for $44 billion and rebranded it to X

This controversial acquisition made him a major force in global communication and politics. Despite criticism over increased misinformation and hate speech, it gave him unprecedented influence over public discourse and positioned him as a key figure in political movements worldwide.

Founded SpaceX after failed attempt to buy Russian ICBMs, deciding to build rockets from scratch

Led to creation of world's first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover rockets

Born June 28 in Pretoria, South Africa

Parents divorced, chose to live with father for access to encyclopedias and computers

Sold BASIC game Blastar for $500 at age 12

Arrived in Canada to avoid South African military service

Entered Queen's University

Transferred to University of Pennsylvania

Held internships at Pinnacle Research Institute and Rocket Science Games

Co-founded Zip2 with brother Kimbal, accepted to Stanford but didn't enroll

Received bachelor's degrees from University of Pennsylvania in Physics and Economics

Zip2 sold to Compaq for $307 million, Musk received $22 million and co-founded X.com

Married Justine Wilson, X.com merged with Confinity to form PayPal

Traveled to Russia attempting to buy ICBMs for Mars mission, deal failed

PayPal sold to eBay for $1.5 billion (Musk got $175.8 million), became US citizen, founded SpaceX with $100 million investment, first child Nevada died of SIDS

Founded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) after PayPal sale

Led Tesla Series A with $6.5 million investment, had twins with Justine

Had triplets with Justine

First Falcon 1 launch failed after 25 seconds

Became Tesla CEO, married Talulah Riley, SpaceX Falcon 1 finally reached orbit after three failures, both companies nearly went bankrupt

Fourth Falcon 1 launch succeeded, becoming first private company to reach orbit

Received $1.6 billion NASA contract for ISS resupply missions

Tesla IPO raised $226 million, bought former Toyota-GM Fremont plant for $42 million

First successful Falcon 9 launch

Divorced Talulah Riley, SpaceX Dragon became first private spacecraft to dock with ISS

Dragon became first private spacecraft to dock with International Space Station

Remarried Talulah Riley

Co-founded OpenAI, SpaceX began Starlink development and successfully landed Falcon 9 first stage

First successful rocket landing and recovery

Finalized second divorce from Riley, co-founded Neuralink, Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2.6 billion

Founded Boring Company, briefly dated Amber Heard

First successful reuse of recovered Falcon 9 rocket

Began dating Grimes, SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy with Tesla Roadster payload

Falcon Heavy maiden flight launched Tesla Roadster to space

Began launching Starlink satellite constellation

First child with Grimes born, SpaceX Demo-2 mission launched astronauts to ISS

First private company to launch astronauts to ISS with Crew Dragon

Second child with Grimes born, twins with Shivon Zilis born, became first person to achieve $300 billion net worth

Third child with Grimes born, acquired Twitter for $44 billion

Rebranded Twitter to X, launched xAI

Fourth child with Shivon Zilis born, became largest donor supporting Trump in presidential election, reached $400 billion net worth

Became wealthiest person in the world, served as Senior Advisor and head of DOGE under Trump, left administration after public feud, fifth child with Shivon Zilis born, reached $500-700 billion net worth milestones, Tesla pay package worth $1 trillion approved

xAI became SpaceX subsidiary, reached $800+ billion net worth, emails with Jeffrey Epstein published in Epstein files