What is Elon Musk’s net worth?
| Net Worth: | $180 Billion |
|---|---|
| Age: | 51 |
| Born: | June 28, 1971 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Country of Origin: | South Africa |
| Source of Wealth: | Entrepreneur/Investor |
| Last Updated: | March 8, 2023 |
As of March 2023, Elon Musk’s net worth is estimated at $180 Billion.
Elon Musk is a South African-born Canadian American business magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor.
Musk has been a part of many successful startups; he’s the founder, CEO, and CTO of SpaceX; CEO of Tesla Inc.; co-chairman of OpenAI; founder and CEO of Neuralink.
Most people will know that Elon’s original success came from founding PayPal, now one of the most commonly used payment gateways on the internet.
In the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is the second world’s richest person (with the richest person in the world being Bernard Arnault, as of February 2023).
Key Facts
- Elon Musk was born on the 28th of June, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa.
- He learnt programming by himself when he was just 12 years old.
- He got his bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania.
- He started studying at Stanford University but dropped out just after two days and started a business with his younger brother Kimbal.
- His first co-owned company was Zip2, a web software company aimed at the newspaper industry.
- After he sold Zip2, Musk engaged in the e-mail payment business and founded X.com, which was later merged with Confinity and became a well-known online payment service – PayPal.
- He founded SpaceX (a spacecraft manufacturing company) and Solar City (a solar energy generation systems company).
- In February 2004, investing $6.5 million, he became the majority shareholder of Tesla (automotive, artificial intelligence, and clean energy company). He has served as CEO there since 2008.
- At Tesla AI Day 2022, Musk revealed they were working on a humanoid robot.
- Musk announced himself as a “free speech absolutist”, as he is against any censorship.
Early Life
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on the 28th of June, 1971. Musk’s family is multicultural – his mother was a model from Canada, and his father is an electromechanical engineer from South Africa. Musk has two younger siblings, Kimbal (a restaurateur, chef and entrepreneur who owns The Kitchen Restaurant Group) and Tosca.
At just 10 years old, Elon found his passion for computers. He taught himself computer programming at 12 years old; and created a video game called Blastar, which he sold to a magazine called PC and Office Technology, for approximately $500.
Career
After dropping out of Stanford University to pursue entrepreneurship, Elon, along with his brother Kimbal, founded Zip2.
Zip2 was a web software company, which developed and marketed an Internet “city guide” for the newspaper publishing industry. The company received contracts with the likes of the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times, and was eventually sold to Compaq for $307 million.
With $22 million now in his pocket from the sale of Zip2, Musk founded X.com, an E-Mail payment company. This later became the notorious PayPal, when X.com merged with Confinity.
PayPal became the biggest online payment transfer company, and was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock. Musk’s fortune was now $165 million higher.
It was at this time that Elon Musk began to pursue his passion for changing and advancing the world for the better, investing in Tesla, and founding SpaceX and Solar City.
The success of these three companies is growing month by month, and is responsible for Musk’s sudden jump in net worth.
SpaceX is advancing space technology, and strives to reduce the cost of human spaceflight by a factor of 10.
Tesla is focused on solving the fossil fuels crisis in the automobile industry, by developing affordable and stylish electric vehicles that are safer for the planet.
Solar City is the 2nd largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.
As of 2023, Elon Musk’s net worth is estimated to be $180 Billion.
How Does Elon Musk Spend His Money?
Musk’s fortune is really impressive, as he was one of the most significant Tesla investors and is now its CEO, as well as the owner of other prospering companies. He is the second richest person in the world now, so he has lots of possibilities to spend money on whatever he wants.
However, he is not the type of person who would spend his wealth on expensive hobbies or all-inclusive vacations all the time. He prefers to work at the office or visit his factories. However, at the end of the day, he returns to one of his four mansions in Los Angeles. He has recently bought a fifth property – a $24 million unfinished estate.
As a carmaker, Musk is passionate about vehicles. At an auction in 2013, he bought the Lotus Espirit submarine car used in a James Bond movie for $920,000. Apart from Tesla cars, he has two gas-powered vehicles – a Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Roadster and a Ford Model T.
As the second richest man in the world, he obviously has his own planes as well. In November 2022, he bought a luxurious private jet with two Rolls-Royce engines, 5 living areas and 20 windows for $78 million.
Highlights
Here are some of the best highlights of Elon Musk’s career:
- Moved to Silicon Valley (1995)
- Sells Zip2 to Compaq for $307 million (1999)
- Creates X.com, which later becomes PayPal (1999)
- eBay acquires PayPal for $1.5 billion (2002)
- Becomes an American citizen (2002)
- Founds SpaceX9 (2002)
- Becomes CEO of Tesla (2008)
- Tesla Begin Deliveries of the All-Electric Model S (2012)
- The Model X Launch (2015)
- Tesla Merged with SolarCity (2016)
- The Model 3 Arrives (2017)
- The SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launches (2018)
Favorite Elon Musk Quotes
“Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” – Elon Musk
“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.” – Elon Musk
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk
“Patience is a virtue, and I’m learning patience. It’s a tough lesson.” – Elon Musk
View our larger collection of the best Elon Musk quotes!
3 Success Lessons from Elon Musk
Here are 3 success lessons we can all learn from Elon Musk:
1. Don’t Be Afraid to Put Yourself in Uncomfortable Situations
Elon has previously explained that after the sale of PayPal; he invested almost all of the money he received into other companies. He took an incredible risk and could have easily lost all the personal fortune he worked so hard to attain in the first place.
However, Musk had a vision, and that’s why he wasn’t afraid to take the risk. We all know how well it’s paid off for him, considering that 15 years later he’s worth more than 100 times the amount he received from PayPal.
“My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.” – Elon Musk
2. Focus On Building Amazing Products
Elon Musk = Amazing products.
PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, Solar City – they all have the main focus of being the best solution out there for each individual market they target. Hence, they’ve become so successful because the said focus has controlled just how good the end product is.
The reality is that if your end product isn’t good enough, nothing else you do will help you achieve the same level of success.
3. Follow the End Vision
Musk is changing the world; with space and automobile technology, revolutionising the world as we know it. He wants to, and is making a difference.
This is his vision, his aim, and he directed all of his energy towards it once he had the money to do so. You should always follow your vision, and no one else’s.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Elon Musk worth?
Elon Musk’s net worth is estimated to be $180 Billion.
How old is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971, and is currently 51 years old.
How tall is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk’s height is 1.88 m, which is equal to 6 ft 2 in.
Did Elon Musk buy Twitter?
Yes, he managed to buy Twitter, completing the deal on the 28th of October, 2022. Musk paid $44 billion to become the owner of Twitter.
Was Musk sued?
Yes, the shareholders sued Musk, Tesla and Tesla directors for a post on Twitter saying that Musk was thinking about taking Tesla private.
Has been Musk’s fortune ever used to support a charity?
Yes – the most prominent example happened last year when Musk gave $1.9 billion worth of Tesla shares to charity. The name of the charity that received such impressive support was not revealed.
Summary
Elon Musk is a man who takes risks to increase his wealth. Even after a huge payout from PayPal, he invested virtually all of that money into the likes of SpaceX and Tesla to make his vision a reality.
Elon Musk’s net worth is estimated at $198 Billion, and with his current companies being all about the future, this number is surely only going to earn more and more money.
