Who is Elon Musk and what is his net worth?

2 days agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on Google Liv McMahon, Natalie Sherman, Dearbail Jordan & Osmond ChiaBusiness & technology reporters The Tesla boss became the first person ever to achieve a net worth of more than $500bn Technology mogul Elon Musk, boss of SpaceX, Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), has become the world's first trillionaire. For some time Musk has been, or at least never far from being, the world's richest person. He became the first person to achieve a net worth of more than half a trillion dollars (£370.9bn) in October 2025, according to Forbes. A month later, Tesla shareholders approved a record-breaking pay deal that could be worth $1 trillion. But in June 2026, Musk's net worth soared past billionaire to trillionaire status after his rocket-builder and satellite operator SpaceX, which also owns X, Grok and Starlink, went public. What you need to know as millions of SpaceX shares go up for sale However, he is known for more than simply his immense wealth. The SpaceX boss has used his social media platform to air his views on a vast array of topics, ranging from current affairs to the future of humanity. His forays into politics have become more frequent in recent years, and include helping Donald Trump win the 2024 US presidential election, to the frustration of some investors. Musk has since also taken an interest in UK matters - drawing scrutiny as well as criticism from some politicians, including the Prime Minister, for both his views and the way X influences the public debate and mood. Where was Elon Musk born? Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk showed his talents for entrepreneurship early, going door-to-door with his brother selling homemade chocolate Easter eggs and developing his first computer game at the age of 12. He has described his childhood as difficult, affected ' divorce, bullying at school and his own difficulty picking up on social cues because of Asperger's Syndrome. At the earliest opportunity, he left home for college, moving to Canada and then the US, where he studied economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League college. In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, his first wife, Justine Musk, a writer whom he met in college and married in 2000, wrote that even before making his millions Musk was "not a man who takes no for an answer". "The will to compete and dominate, that made him so successful in business, did not magically shut off when he came home," she recalled, adding that he told her while dancing at their wedding, "I am the alpha in this relationship." How did Elon Musk make his money?