A member of the wealthy South African Musk family, Musk was born in Pretoria and briefly attended the University of Pretoria. At the age of 18 he immigrated to Canada, acquiring its citizenship through his Canadian-born mother, Maye. Two years later, he matriculated at Queen's University in Canada. Musk later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and received bachelor's degrees in economics and physics. He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University but never enrolled in classes, and with his brother Kimbal co-founded the online city guide software company Zip2. The startup was acquired by Compaq for $307 million in 1999. That same year, Musk co-founded X.com, a direct bank. X.com merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal. In 2002, Musk acquired United States citizenship, and that October eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion. Using $100 million of the money he made from the sale of PayPal, Musk founded SpaceX, a spaceflight services company, in 2002.
In 2004, Musk was an early investor in electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, Inc. (later Tesla, Inc.), providing most of the initial financing and assuming the position of the company's chairman. He later became the product architect and, in 2008, the CEO. In 2006, Musk helped create SolarCity, a solar energy company that was acquired by Tesla in 2016 and became Tesla Energy. In 2013, he proposed a hyperloop high-speed vactrain transportation system. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI, a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company. The following year Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology company developing brain–computer interfaces, and the Boring Company, a tunnel construction company. In 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk, alleging he falsely announced that he had secured funding for a private takeover of Tesla. To settle the case, Musk stepped down as the chairman of Tesla and paid a $20 million fine. In 2022, he acquired Twitter for $44 billion, merged the company into his newly-created X Corp., and rebranded the service as X the following year. In 2023, Musk founded xAI, an artificial intelligence company.
The Musk family was wealthy during Elon's youth.[17] Despite both Elon and Errol previously stating that Errol was a part owner of a Zambian emerald mine,[17] in 2023, Errol recounted that the deal he made was to receive "a portion of the emeralds produced at three small mines".[21][22] Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party and has said that his children shared their father's dislike of apartheid.[2]
After his parents divorced in 1980, Elon chose to live primarily with his father.[4][14] Elon later regretted his decision and became estranged from his father.[23] Elon has recounted trips to a wilderness school that he described as a "paramilitary Lord of the Flies" where "bullying was a virtue" and children were encouraged to fight over rations.[24] In one incident, after an altercation with a fellow pupil, Elon was thrown down concrete steps and beaten severely by the boy and his friends, leading to him being hospitalized for his injuries.[25] Elon described his father berating him after he was discharged from the hospital, saying, "I had to stand for an hour as he yelled at me and called me an idiot and told me that I was just worthless."[25] Errol denied berating Elon and claimed, "The boy had just lost his father to suicide and Elon had called him stupid. Elon had a tendency to call people stupid. How could I possibly blame that child?".[26]
Elon was an enthusiastic reader of books, and had attributed his success in part to having read The Lord of the Rings, the Foundation series, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[16][27] At age ten, he developed an interest in computing and video games, teaching himself how to program from the VIC-20 user manual.[28] At age twelve, Elon sold his BASIC-based game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.[29][30]
Musk arrived in Canada in June 1989, connected with a second cousin in Saskatchewan,[37] and worked odd jobs including at a farm and a lumber mill.[38] In 1990, he entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.[39][40] Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied until 1995.[41] Although Musk has said that he earned his degrees in 1995, the University of Pennsylvania did not award them until 1997 – a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the university's Wharton School.[42][43][44][45][46] He reportedly hosted large, ticketed house parties to help pay for tuition, and wrote a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service similar to Google Books.[47]
In 1994, Musk held two internships in Silicon Valley: one at energy storage startup Pinnacle Research Institute, which investigated electrolytic supercapacitors for energy storage, and another at Palo Alto–based startup Rocket Science Games.[48][49] In 1995, he was accepted to a graduate program in materials science at Stanford University, but did not enroll.[44][42][50] Musk decided to join the Internet boom, applying for a job at Netscape, to which he reportedly never received a response.[51][33]The Washington Post reported that Musk lacked legal authorization to remain and work in the United States after failing to enroll at Stanford.[50] In response, Musk claimed he was allowed to work at that time and that his student visa transitioned to an H1-B. According to numerous former business associates and shareholders, Musk claimed he was on a student visa at the time.[52]
In 1995, Musk, his brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri founded Global Link Information Network, later renamed Zip2.[53][54] The company developed an Internet city guide with maps, directions, and yellow pages, and marketed it to newspapers.[55] They worked at a small rented office in Palo Alto,[56] with Musk coding the website every night.[56] Musk and his brother's immigration statuses during this period were described by Musk as a "gray area", although Kimbal maintained they were working as illegal immigrants.[57][58] A Washington Post exposé from October 2024 reported Musk worked illegally while building the company, citing an email from Musk submitted as evidence during a 2005 defamation trial and the funding agreement from venture capital firm Mohr Davidow Ventures.[50]
Eventually, Zip2 obtained contracts with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.[47] The brothers persuaded the board of directors to abandon a merger with Citysearch;[59] however, Musk's attempts to become CEO were thwarted.[60]Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash in February 1999,[61][62] and Musk received $22 million for his 7 percent share.[63]
In March 1999,[64] Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company with $12 million of the money he made from the Compaq acquisition.[65] X.com was one of the first online banks that was federally insured, and over 200,000 customers joined in its initial months of operation.[66]
Musk's friends expressed skepticism about the naming of the online bank, fearing it might have been mistaken for a pornographic site. Musk brushed off their concerns, emphasizing that the name was meant to be straightforward, memorable, and easy to type. Additionally, he was fond of the email addresses derived from it, such as "e@x.com".[64] Although Musk founded the company, investors regarded him as inexperienced and replaced him with Intuit CEO Bill Harris by the end of the year.[67]
In 2000, X.com merged with the online bank Confinity to avoid competition,[56][67][68] as the latter's money-transfer service PayPal was more popular than X.com's service.[69] Musk then returned as CEO of the merged company. His preference for Microsoft- over Unix-based software caused a rift among the company's employees, and eventually led Confinity co-founder Peter Thiel to resign.[70] With the company suffering from compounding technological issues and the lack of a cohesive business model, the board ousted Musk and replaced him with Thiel in September 2000.[71][b] Under Thiel, the company focused on the money-transfer service and was renamed PayPal in 2001.[73][74]
In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, of which Musk—PayPal's largest shareholder with 11.7% of shares—received $176 million.[75][76] In 2017, more than 15 years later, Musk purchased the X.com domain from PayPal for its "sentimental value".[77][78] In 2022, Musk discussed a goal of creating "X, the everything app".[79]
In early 2001, Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society and discussed funding plans to place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars.[80] In October of the same year, he traveled to Moscow, Russia with Jim Cantrell, Adeo Ressi, and future Administrator of NASA, Michael D. Griffin[81] to buy refurbished intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could send the greenhouse payloads into space. He met with the companies Lavochkin and ISC Kosmotras; however, Musk was seen as a novice[82] and the group returned to the United States without an agreement to purchase Russian launch services. In February 2002, the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs. They had another meeting with ISC Kosmotras and were offered one rocket for $8 million, which Musk rejected. He instead decided to start a company that could build affordable rockets.[82] With $100 million of his own money,[83] Musk founded SpaceX in May 2002 and became the company's CEO and chief engineer.[84][85]
Since 2019,[96] SpaceX has been developing Starship, a reusable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle intended to replace the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy.[97] In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to place astronauts into orbit and dock a crewed spacecraft with the ISS.[98] In 2024, NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract to deorbit the ISS at the end of its lifespan.[99]
50 Starlink satellites shortly before deployment to low Earth orbit, 2019
In 2015, SpaceX began development of the Starlink constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to provide satellite Internet access,[100] with the first two prototype satellites launched in February 2018. A second set of test satellites, and the first large deployment of a piece of the constellation, occurred in May 2019, when the first 60 operational satellites were launched.[101] The total cost of the decade-long project to design, build, and deploy the constellation was estimated by SpaceX in 2020 to be $10 billion.[102][c] Some critics, including the International Astronomical Union, have alleged that Starlink blocks the view of the sky and poses a collision threat to spacecraft.[105][106][107]
During the March 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Musk sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine to provide Internet access and communication.[108] In October 2022, Musk stated that about 20,000 satellite terminals had been donated to Ukraine, together with free data transfer subscriptions, which cost SpaceX $80 million. After asking the United States Department of Defense to pay for further units and future subscriptions on behalf of Ukraine,[109] Musk publicly stated that SpaceX would continue to provide Starlink to Ukraine for free, at a yearly cost to itself of $400 million.[110][111][112] At the same time, Musk refused to block Russian state media on Starlink, declaring himself "a free speech absolutist".[113][114]
In September 2023, Ukraine asked for the activation of Starlink satellites over Crimea to attack Russian naval vessels located at the port Sevastopol; Musk denied the request, citing concerns that Russia would respond with a nuclear attack.[115][116][117]
Tesla, Inc., originally Tesla Motors, was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Both men played active roles in the company's early development prior to Musk's involvement.[118] Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004; he invested $6.35 million, became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla's board of directors as chairman.[119][120] Musk took an active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design, but was not deeply involved in day-to-day business operations.[121]
Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007, and the financial crisis of 2007–2008, Eberhard was ousted from the firm.[122][page needed][123] Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008.[124] A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others.[125][126] As of 2019, Musk was the longest-tenured CEO of any automotive manufacturer globally.[127] In 2021, Musk nominally changed his title to "Technoking" while retaining his position as CEO.[128]
Musk before a Model X at the 2014 Tesla Inc. annual shareholder meeting
Tesla began delivery of the Roadster, an electric sports car, in 2008. With sales of about 2,500 vehicles, it was the first mass production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells.[129] Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan in 2012.[130] A crossover, the Model X was launched in 2015.[131] A mass-market sedan, the Model 3, was released in 2017.[132] In 2020, the Model 3 became the all-time bestselling plug-in electric car worldwide, and in June 2021 it became the first electric car to sell 1 million units globally.[133][134] A fifth vehicle, the Model Y crossover, was launched in 2020, and in December 2023, became the best-selling vehicle of any type,[135] as well as the all-time best-selling electric car.[136] The Cybertruck, an all-electric pickup truck, was unveiled in 2019,[137] and delivered in November 2023.[138] Under Musk, Tesla has also constructed multiple lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle factories, named Gigafactories.[139]
Since its initial public offering in 2010,[140] Tesla stock has risen significantly; it became the most valuable carmaker in summer 2020,[141][142] and it entered the S&P 500 later that year.[143][144] In October 2021, it reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion, the sixth company in US history to do so.[145] In November 2021, Musk proposed on Twitter to sell some of his Tesla stock.[146] After more than 3.5 million Twitter accounts supported the sale, Musk sold $6.9 billion of Tesla stock within a week,[146] and a total of $16.4 billion by year end, reaching the 10% target.[147] In February 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that both Musk and his brother Kimbal were under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for possible insider trading related to the sale.[148] In 2022, Musk unveiled Optimus, a robot being developed by Tesla.[149] In June 2023, Musk met with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in New York City, stating he was interested in investing in India "as soon as humanly possible".[150]
SEC and shareholder lawsuits regarding tweets
In 2018, Musk was sued by the SEC for a tweet stating that funding had been secured for potentially taking Tesla private.[151][d] The lawsuit characterized the tweet as false, misleading, and damaging to investors, and sought to bar Musk from serving as CEO of publicly traded companies.[151][155][156] Two days later, Musk settled with the SEC, without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations. As a result, Musk and Tesla were fined $20 million each, and Musk was forced to step down for three years as Tesla chairman but was able to remain as CEO.[157] Shareholders filed a lawsuit over the tweet,[158] and in February 2023, a jury found Musk and Tesla not liable.[159] Musk has stated in interviews that he does not regret posting the tweet that triggered the SEC investigation.[160][161]
In 2019, Musk stated in a tweet that Tesla would build half a million cars that year.[162] The SEC reacted by asking a court to hold him in contempt for violating the terms of the 2018 settlement agreement. A joint agreement between Musk and the SEC eventually clarified the previous agreement details,[163] including a list of topics about which Musk needed preclearance.[164] In 2020, a judge blocked a lawsuit that claimed a tweet by Musk regarding Tesla stock price ("too high imo") violated the agreement.[165][166]Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)-released records showed that the SEC concluded Musk had subsequently violated the agreement twice by tweeting regarding "Tesla's solar roof production volumes and its stock price".[167]
Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for SolarCity, which his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive founded in 2006.[168] By 2013, SolarCity was the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States.[169] In 2014, Musk promoted the idea of SolarCity building an advanced production facility in Buffalo, New York, triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States.[170] Construction of the factory started in 2014 and was completed in 2017. It operated as a joint venture with Panasonic until early 2020.[171][172]
Tesla acquired SolarCity for $2 billion in 2016 and merged it with its battery unit to create Tesla Energy. The deal's announcement resulted in a more than 10% drop in Tesla's stock price; at the time, SolarCity was facing liquidity issues.[173] Multiple shareholder groups filed a lawsuit against Musk and Tesla's directors, stating that the purchase of SolarCity was done solely to benefit Musk and came at the expense of Tesla and its shareholders.[174][175] Tesla directors settled the lawsuit in January 2020, leaving Musk the sole remaining defendant.[176][177] Two years later, the court ruled in Musk's favor.[178]
Musk discussing a Neuralink device during a live demonstration in 2020
In 2016, Musk co-founded Neuralink, a neurotechnology startup company, with an investment of $100 million.[179][180] Neuralink aims to integrate the human brain with artificial intelligence (AI) by creating devices that are embedded in the brain. Such technology could enhance memory or allow the devices to communicate with software.[180][181] The company also hopes to develop devices with which to treat neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and spinal cord injuries.[182]
In 2019, Musk announced work on a device akin to a sewing machine that could embed threads into a human brain.[179] In an October 2019 paper that detailed some of Neuralink's research,[183] Musk was listed as the sole author, which rankled Neuralink researchers.[184] At a 2020 live demonstration, Musk described one of their early devices as "a Fitbit in your skull" that could soon cure paralysis, deafness, blindness, and other disabilities. Many neuroscientists and publications criticized these claims,[185][186][187] with MIT Technology Review describing them as "highly speculative" and "neuroscience theater".[185] During the demonstration, Musk revealed a pig with a Neuralink implant that tracked neural activity related to smell.[182] In 2022, Neuralink announced that clinical trials would begin by the end of the year.[188]
Neuralink has conducted further animal testing on macaque monkeys at the University of California, Davis' Primate Research Center. In 2021, the company released a video in which a Macaque played the video game Pong via a Neuralink implant. The company's animal trials—which have caused the deaths of some monkeys—have led to claims of animal cruelty. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has alleged that Neuralink's animal trials have violated the Animal Welfare Act.[189] Employees have complained that pressure from Musk to accelerate development has led to botched experiments and unnecessary animal deaths. In 2022, a federal probe was launched into possible animal welfare violations by Neuralink.[190] In September 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved Neuralink to initiate human trials, and it plans to conduct a six-year study.[191]
In 2017, Musk founded the Boring Company to construct tunnels, and revealed plans for specialized, underground, high-occupancy vehicles that could travel up to 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) and thus circumvent above-ground traffic in major cities.[192][193] Early in 2017, the company began discussions with regulatory bodies and initiated construction of a 30-foot (9.1 m) wide, 50-foot (15 m) long, and 15-foot (4.6 m) deep "test trench" on the premises of SpaceX's offices, as that required no permits.[194] The Los Angeles tunnel, less than two miles (3.2 km) in length, debuted to journalists in 2018. It used Tesla Model Xs and was reported to be a rough ride while traveling at suboptimal speeds.[195]
Two tunnel projects announced in 2018, in Chicago and West Los Angeles, have been canceled.[196][197] However, a tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center was completed in early 2021.[198] Local officials have approved further expansions of the tunnel system.[199]
Musk expressed interest in buying Twitter as early as 2017,[201] and had questioned the platform's commitment to freedom of speech.[202][203] Additionally, his ex-wife Talulah Riley had urged him to buy Twitter to stop the "woke-ism".[204] In January 2022, Musk started purchasing Twitter shares, reaching a 9.2% stake by April,[205] making him the largest shareholder.[206][e] When this was publicly disclosed, Twitter shares experienced the largest intraday price surge since the company's 2013 initial public offering.[208] On April 4, Musk agreed to a deal that would appoint him to Twitter's board of directors and prohibit him from acquiring more than 14.9% of the company.[209][210] However, on April 13, Musk made a $43 billion offer to buy Twitter, launching a takeover bid to buy 100% of Twitter's stock at $54.20 per share.[206][211] In response, Twitter's board adopted a "poison pill" shareholder rights plan to make it more expensive for any single investor to own more than 15% of the company without board approval.[212] Nevertheless, by the end of the month Musk had successfully concluded his bid for approximately $44 billion.[213] This included about $12.5 billion in loans against his Tesla stock and $21 billion in equity financing.[214][215]
Tesla's stock market value sank by over $100 billion the next day in reaction to the deal.[216][217] He subsequently tweeted to his 86 million followers criticism of Twitter executive Vijaya Gadde's policies, which led to some of them engaging in sexist and racist harassment against her.[218] Exactly a month after announcing the takeover, Musk stated that the deal was "on hold" following a report that 5% of Twitter's daily active users were spam accounts.[219] Although he initially affirmed his commitment to the acquisition,[220] he sent notification of his termination of the deal in July; Twitter's board of directors responded that they were committed to holding him to the transaction.[221] On July 12, 2022, Twitter formally sued Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery for breaching a legally binding agreement to purchase Twitter.[222] In October 2022, Musk reversed again, offering to purchase Twitter at $54.20 per share.[223] The acquisition was officially completed on October 27.[224]
Immediately after the acquisition, Musk fired several top Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal;[224][225] Musk became the CEO instead.[226] He instituted a $7.99 monthly subscription for a "blue check",[227][228][229] and laid off a significant portion of the company's staff.[230][231] Musk lessened content moderation, including reinstating accounts like The Babylon Bee.[232][233] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) noted that Twitter has verified numerous extremists;[234] hate speech also increased on the platform after his takeover.[235][236]
On November 20, 2023, in a U.S. District Court in Texas, X filed a lawsuit stating that Media Matters for America "manipulated" the X platform, in that it used accounts that followed major brands, and "resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing" the feed until it found ads next to extremist posts.[244]
The Wall Street Journal reported in August 2024 that the $13 billion Musk borrowed to buy Twitter "is now considered the worst deal in merger finance that banks have participated in since the 2008 to '09 financial crisis", adding that "the allure of banking Elon Musk, providing capital for him to buy a company, not only would reward them handsomely if things went according to plan" but "you can certainly say things have not gone according to plan".[245]The Washington Post reported in September 2024 that the company had lost $24 billion in equity value, "a vaporization of wealth that has little parallel outside the realm of economic or industry-specific crashes, or devastating corporate scandals".[246] Two years after the acquisition, Fidelity Investments estimated the value of its stake in X that implied the company had lost 79% of its value.[247]
The Journal reported in January 2025 that Musk's lead banks hoped to soon begin selling down to other banks the $13 billion they had lent him, at 90 to 95 cents on the dollar. Lead banks typically sell down their exposure immediately after a deal closes, but they had been unable to sell the debt since the Twitter deal closed in October 2022. The paper published a Musk quote from an email he reportedly sent to X employees that month, saying "user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we're barely breaking even," though Musk denied sending the email hours after the article was published online.[248]
Leadership style
Musk giving a speech to SpaceX employees in 2012
Musk is often described as a micromanager and has called himself a "nano-manager".[249]The New York Times has characterized his approach as autocratic.[250] Musk does not make formal business plans.[250] He has forced employees to adopt the company's own jargon and launched ambitious, risky, and costly projects against his advisors' recommendations, such as removing front-facing radar from Tesla Autopilot. His insistence on vertical integration causes his companies to move most production in-house. While this resulted in saved costs for SpaceX's rocket,[251] vertical integration (as of 2018) has caused many usability problems for Tesla's internal corporate software.[249][needs update]
Musk's handling of employees—whom he communicates with directly through mass emails—has been characterized as "carrot and stick", rewarding those "who offer constructive criticism" while also being known to impulsively threaten, swear at, and fire his employees.[252][253][254] Musk said he expects his employees to work for long hours, sometimes 80 hours per week.[255] He has his new employees sign strict non-disclosure agreements and often fires in sprees,[256][254] such as during the Model 3 "production hell" in 2018.[254] In 2022, Musk revealed plans to fire 10 percent of Tesla's workforce, due to his concerns about the economy.[257] That same month, he suspended remote work at SpaceX and Tesla and threatened to fire employees who do not work 40 hours per week in the office.[258] He laid off more than 10 percent of the Tesla workforce in early 2024.
Musk's leadership has been praised by some, who credit it with the success of Tesla and his other endeavors,[249] and criticized by others, who see him as callous and his managerial decisions as "show[ing] a lack of human understanding".[254][259] The 2021 book Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century contains anecdotes of Musk berating employees.[260]The Wall Street Journal reported that, after Musk insisted on branding his vehicles as "self-driving", he faced criticism from his engineers for putting customer "lives at risk", with some[quantify] employees resigning in 2017 in consequence.[261]
Musk at a tech conference hosted at the Yellowstone Club in March 2024
Musk is president of the Musk Foundation he founded in 2001,[262][263] whose stated purpose is to: provide solar-power energy systems in disaster areas; support research, development, and advocacy (for interests including human space exploration, pediatrics, renewable energy and "safe artificial intelligence"); and support science and engineering educational efforts.[264]
As of 2020, the foundation had made 350 donations. Around half of them were made to scientific research or education nonprofits. Notable beneficiaries include the Wikimedia Foundation, his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania, and his brother Kimbal's nonprofit Big Green.[265] From 2002 to 2018, the foundation gave $25 million directly to nonprofit organizations, nearly half of which went to Musk's OpenAI,[266] which was a nonprofit at the time.[267] The foundation also allocated $100 million of donations to be used to establish a new higher education university in Texas.[268]
In 2012, Musk took the Giving Pledge, thereby committing to give the majority of his wealth to charitable causes either during his lifetime or in his will.[269] He has endowed prizes at the Xprize Foundation, including $100 million to reward improved carbon capture technology.[270]
Vox said in February 2021, "the Musk Foundation is almost entertaining in its simplicity and yet is strikingly opaque", noting that its website was only 33 words in plain-text.[266] In 2020, Forbes gave Musk a philanthropy score of 1, because he had given away less than 1% of his net worth.[265] In November 2021, Musk donated $5.7 billion of Tesla's shares to charity, according to regulatory filings.[271] However, Bloomberg News noted that all of it went to his own foundation, bringing Musk Foundation's assets up to $9.4 billion at the end of 2021. The foundation disbursed $160 million to nonprofits that year.[272] Reporting by The New York Times found that in 2022, the Musk Foundation gave away $230 million less than the minimum required by law to maintain tax-deductible status, and that in 2021 and 2022 over half the foundation's funds went to causes connected to Musk, his family, or his businesses.[273]
A tube part of the 2017 Hyperloop pod competition, sponsored by SpaceX
In August 2013, Musk announced plans for a version of a vactrain and assigned a dozen engineers from SpaceX and Tesla to establish the conceptual foundations and create initial designs.[274] Later that year, Musk unveiled the concept, which he dubbed the Hyperloop.[275] The alpha design for the system was published in a white paper posted to the Tesla and SpaceX blogs.[276] The document scoped out the technology and outlined a notional route where such a transport system could be built between Greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, at an estimated cost of $6 billion.[277] The proposal, if technologically feasible at the costs cited, would make Hyperloop travel cheaper than any other mode of transport for such long distances.[278] Biographer Ashlee Vance noted that Musk hoped Hyperloop would "make the public and legislators rethink the high-speed train" proposal current in California at the time and consider more "creative" ideas.[279]
In 2015, Musk announced a design competition for students and others to build Hyperloop pods, to operate on a SpaceX-sponsored mile-long track, for a 2015–2017 Hyperloop pod competition. The track was used in January 2017, and Musk also announced that the company had started a tunnel project, with Hawthorne Municipal Airport as its destination.[280] In July 2017, Musk said that he had received "verbal government approval" to build a Hyperloop from New York City to Washington, D.C., with stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore.[281] Mention of the projected DC-to-Baltimore leg was removed from the Boring Company website in 2021.[282] The tunnel project to Hawthorne was discontinued in 2022 and is planned to be converted into parking spots for SpaceX workers.[283]
Mobility experts have criticized the Hyperloop concept for potential safety issues, planning complexity, low passenger capacity, and extremely high costs.[284][285] Jose Gomez-Ibanez, a professor of urban planning and public policy at Harvard, said, "It gives me pause to think that otherwise intelligent people are buying into this kind of utopian vision."[286]
In December 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, a not-for-profitartificial intelligence (AI) research company aiming to develop artificial general intelligence intended to be safe and beneficial to humanity.[287] A particular focus of the company was to democratize artificial superintelligence systems against governments and corporations.[23] Musk pledged $1 billion of funding to OpenAI.[288] In 2023, Musk said he had given a total of $100 million to OpenAI. TechCrunch later reported that, according to its investigation of public records, "only $15 million" of OpenAI's funding could be definitively traced to Musk. Musk subsequently stated that he had donated about $50 million.[289]
In 2018, Musk left the OpenAI board to avoid possible future conflicts with his role as CEO of Tesla, as Tesla increasingly became involved in AI through Tesla Autopilot.[290] Since then, OpenAI has made significant advances in machine learning, producing neural networks such as ChatGPT (producing human-like text)[291] and DALL-E (generating digital images from natural language descriptions).[292]
On July 12, 2023, Elon Musk launched an artificial intelligence company called xAI, which aims to develop a generative AI program that competes with existing offerings like ChatGPT. The company hired engineers from Google and OpenAI.[293] Musk obtained funding from investors in SpaceX and Tesla.[294]
In February 2024 Musk sued OpenAI, its chief executive Sam Altman, and president Greg Brockman over the company violating its founding agreement by prioritizing profits over benefits to humanity.[295]
In July 2018, Musk arranged for his employees to build a mini-submarine to assist the rescue of children trapped in a flooded cavern in Thailand.[296]Richard Stanton, leader of the international rescue diving team, encouraged Musk to facilitate the construction of the vehicle as a backup in case flooding worsened. However, Stanton concluded that the mini-submarine would not work and said that Musk's involvement "distracted from the rescue effort".[297] Engineers at SpaceX and the Boring Company built the mini-submarine from a Falcon 9 liquid oxygen transfer tube in eight hours and personally delivered it to Thailand.[298][299] Thai authorities ultimately declined to use the submarine, stating that it was not practical for the rescue mission.[296][300] In March 2019, Musk was one of the 187 people who received various honors conferred by the King of Thailand for involvement in the rescue effort.[301]
Soon after the rescue, Vernon Unsworth, a British recreational caver who had been exploring the cave for the previous six years and played a key advisory role in the operation, criticized the submarine on CNN as amounting to nothing more than a public relations effort with no chance of success, maintaining that Musk "had no conception of what the cave passage was like" and "can stick his submarine where it hurts". Musk asserted on Twitter that the device would have worked and referred to Unsworth as a "pedo guy".[302] He then deleted the tweets,[302] apologized,[303] and deleted his responses to critical tweets from Cher Scarlett, a software engineer, which had caused his followers to harass her.[304] In an email to BuzzFeed News, Musk later called Unsworth a "child rapist" and said that he had married a child.[305][306]
In September, Unsworth filed a defamation suit seeking $190 million in damages.[307][308][309] In his defense, Musk argued that "'pedo guy' was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up ... synonymous with 'creepy old man' and is used to insult a person's appearance and demeanor."[31] During the trial Musk apologized to Unsworth again for the tweet. In December 2019, the jury ruled that Musk was not liable.[310][311]
2018 cannabis incident
In September 2018, Musk was interviewed on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, during which he appeared to smoke a joint.[312] In 2022, Musk said that he and other SpaceX employees had subsequently been required to undergo random drug tests for about a year following the incident, as required by the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 for federal contractors.[313] In a 2019 60 Minutes interview, Musk had said, "I do not smoke pot. As anybody who watched that podcast could tell, I have no idea how to smoke pot."[314]
Music
In March 2019, Musk, through his own label Emo G Records, released a rap track, "RIP Harambe", on SoundCloud.[315][316] The track refers to the killing of Harambe the gorilla and the subsequent Internet sensationalism surrounding the event.[317] The following year, Musk released an EDM track, "Don't Doubt Ur Vibe", featuring his own lyrics and vocals.[318] While Guardian critic Alexis Petridis described it as "indistinguishable ... from umpteen competent but unthrilling bits of bedroom electronica posted elsewhere on SoundCloud",[319]TechCrunch said it was "not a bad representation of the genre".[318]
Musk uses a private jet owned by Falcon Landing LLC, a SpaceX-linked company, and acquired a second jet in August 2020.[320][321] His heavy use of the jets—which flew over 150,000 miles in 2018 alone—and the consequent fossil fuel usage have received criticism.[320][322] Musk's flight usage is tracked on social media through ElonJet. After Musk said that his son X Æ A-Xii had been harassed by a stalker after the account posted the airport at which his jet had landed,[323][324][325] Musk banned the ElonJet account on Twitter, as well as the accounts of journalists that posted stories regarding the incident, including Donie O'Sullivan, Keith Olbermann, and journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and The Intercept.[326] Musk equated the reporting to doxxing.[327] Police do not believe there is a link between the account and alleged stalker.[328] Musk later took a Twitter poll on whether the journalists' accounts should be reinstated, which resulted in reinstating the accounts.[329]
After 2020, thousands of acres of land just outside Austin, Texas, were acquired by Musk and his companies with a total value of $2.5 billion.[330][331] The project to build the company town named Snailbrook in Bastrop County, Texas began in 2021 according to reports by The Wall Street Journal.[332] Musk's then-girlfriend Grimes and Kanye West were involved in the planning.[332] The name "Snailbrook" alludes to the Boring Company's stated goal of building a machine that can bore tunnels faster than a snail can move.[332] In 2023 the town had a reported population of 12 people.[333] There are plans to establish a school and a university there.[330]
Musk with Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson and President-elect Donald Trump on November 16, 2024
Musk is an outlier among executives who typically avoid partisan political advocacy.[359][360][361] By early 2024, Musk had become a vocal and financial supporter of Donald Trump.[362] He was his largest individual 2024 presidential campaign donor and largest individual donor of the 2024 election.[363]
While previously considered relatively apolitical and moderate, Musk has shifted to the right and become more vocal about his views, notably since acquiring Twitter in 2022,[364] and his views are now generally described as right-wing and conservative.[365][366][367][368][369] He has shared far-right misinformation[370][371][372] and numerous conspiracy theories.[373][374] Despite this, he still describes himself as politically moderate, rejecting the conservative label.[375]
Musk was a registered independent voter when he lived in California.[376] Historically, he has donated to both Democrats and Republicans,[377] many of whom serve in states in which he has a vested interest.[378] Beginning in the late 2010s, his political contributions have shifted almost entirely to supporting Republicans.[379]
In May 2022, Musk said that he could "no longer support" the Democrats, arguing they are the "party of division & hate",[384][385] and wrote a tweet encouraging "independent-minded voters" to vote Republican in the 2022 US elections.[386][387] That fall he gave over $50 million to Citizens for Sanity, a conservative political action committee that ran advertisements in swing states attacking Democrats on issues such as transgender care and illegal immigration.[388] He supported Republican Ron DeSantis for the 2024 US presidential election, giving $10 million to the campaign in 2023,[388] and hosted DeSantis's campaign announcement on a Twitter Spaces event.[389][390][391] In August 2023, Musk suggested Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy should be the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket.[392]
After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, Musk wished Trump a speedy recovery and endorsed him for president.[393][394] In a July 2024 post on X, Musk shared a deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's opponent in the 2024 presidential election, which appeared to show Harris saying she was the "ultimate diversity hire" and did not know how to manage the United States.[395] Musk wrote that the video was "amazing" and did not reveal that it was edited, despite X prohibiting "synthetic, manipulated" content "that may deceive".[395]
In August 2024, Musk and Trump spoke for over two hours on a livestream on X, in which Musk suggested that Trump create a government efficiency commission which he offered to serve on.[396] Trump said he would "love" to have Musk involved and later said he needed Musk's help to eliminate the Department of Education.[396] On September 15, 2024, after the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Musk wrote on X that it was odd that nobody had tried to kill Biden or Harris.[397] After widespread condemnation, he deleted the post,[397] but the United States Secret Service said it was opening a probe.[398]
In October 2024, Musk joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally.[399] In November 2024, news media described how Musk was "sharing and posting demonstrably false anti-Harris disinformation to his 200 million followers"[400] on X and promoting conspiracy theories and falsehoods about Democrats, election fraud[400] and immigration in support of Trump.[401][402]
After becoming president-elect, Trump announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would run a new Department of Government Efficiency, and advisory commission to the President.[403] Musk was described as derailing a December 2024 continuing resolution bill to fund the government by posting numerous false and misleading claims about the bill's content on his X account, including false claims of it funding bioweapons labs and requiring vaccine mandates.[404]
In December 2024, Musk expressed support for the H-1B visa program, which allows the hiring of highly-skilled foreign workers, especially by the technology companies in the United States, while some far-right activists such as Laura Loomer opposed it on X.[415][416][417]
US president-elect Donald Trump announced on November 12, 2024, that Musk would become an inaugural leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a governmental advisory body that will "slash excess regulations [and] cut wasteful expenditures".[418][419] During the Trump campaign, Musk said he would reduce federal outlays by $2 trillion. After the election, he stated $2 trillion would be a best-case scenario, but he had a "good shot" at cutting $1 trillion.[420] He has not specified the timeframe over which the cuts might occur; budget experts generally assess fiscal matters over a 10-year budget window.[421]
Vivek Ramaswamy was initially named as a coleader.[418][419] Musk advocated for the DOGE to operate as a small team within the federal government, while Ramaswamy envisioned it as an outside nongovernmental organization. Musk also differed from Ramaswamy in wanting a technology and data-driven approach to cut spending, whereas Ramaswamy pushed for regulatory reforms in statute.[422]
On January 20, 2025, a Trump executive order established the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, set to expire on July 4, 2026, under the jurisdiction of the United States DOGE Service, in the Executive Office of the President.[423] Musk was appointed as sole administrator of the organization after Ramaswamy departed the Trump administration. Musk said that his role as the head of the DOGE would be unpaid.[424][425][426] The executive order tasked the DOGE with modernizing governmental information technology to "maximize governmental efficiency and productivity".[423]
Musk was given office space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, with about 20 people working for the DOGE in the main office. The DOGE will also have teams of at least 4 people in each federal agency to implement the DOGE agenda. The DOGE agency teams would have "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems", allowing Musk to use expertise from his business ventures to achieve his aims. Musk was authorized to recruit outside volunteer experts to staff the DOGE.[422][420][424] Prior to the setup of government offices, Musk initially staffed the DOGE effort by scouting his businesses for talent, with SpaceX's Washington, D.C. offices being used to house dozens of employees working on DOGE initiatives.[422]
Conservative PAC activities
In 2022, Musk provided over $50 million to fund Citizens for Sanity, a conservative political action committee (PAC) created by former Trump senior advisor Steven Miller to finance $93 million in advertisements related to culture war issues. The New York Times and OpenSecrets reported in October 2024 that some of Musk's donations were routed through Building America's Future, a non-profit organization and the hub of a dark money network supporting Trump. The organization created "Progress 2028", which promoted misinformation about the agenda of Democratic presidential candidate Harris, and was presented as the left's response to Project 2025, Musk has also promoted the Fair Election Fund, which is heavily funded by Building America's Future, and offers rewards for evidence of election fraud. That organization is heavily involved in America PAC, which is founded and funded exclusively by Musk.[427][428][429][430][431] In October 2024, a Federal Election Commission filing showed that Musk contributed almost $75 million to his America PAC during the previous three months, and during that time, the PAC spent approximately $72 million to support Trump's campaign.[432][433]
In October 2024, Musk promoted a sweepstakes conducted by his America PAC, offering to pay $1 million per day to randomly selected registered voters in battleground states who signed a petition pledging support of the First and Second Amendments. Within days the U.S. Justice Department wrote America PAC warning that the sweepstakes might be illegal. Compensating people to register to vote violates federal law, and although registering to vote was not a condition to signing the petition, some legal analysts said the sweepstakes might induce people to register in order to participate. Musk's defenders said signing the petition did not specifically induce people to register, although he had previously said registering voters was one of his goals in Pennsylvania and had begun describing prize winners as America PAC "spokespeople".[434][435] After receiving the Justice Department's warning, Musk awarded two people $1 million each.[436] On October 28, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, sued Musk and America PAC.[437] Although Musk had originally said that the prize would be "randomly" awarded, his lawyer argued that recipients "earn" the money after being "selected based on their suitability to serve as spokesperson for America PAC". After an all-day hearing on November 4, the day before Election Day, the judge ruled that Musk could continue his daily giveaway.[438] On Election Day, Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty filed a $5 million class action lawsuit against Musk and his PAC, arguing that she and others would not have signed the petition and provided her personal information had they known they had no chance of winning the prize.[439]
On October 16, 2024, Musk created and contributed $20.5 million as the sole donor to an "RBG PAC" that used the initials and name of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to try to convince voters that Trump would not sign a national abortion ban.[440] The PAC was formed the day after it would be required to disclose its donors before the election.[441]
On December 6, 2024, The Washington Post reported that Musk had donated $277 million to Trump and allied Republicans, making him the single largest individual political donor in the 2024 election and the largest donor since at least 2010, not counting candidates who funded their own campaigns, according to data from OpenSecrets. The Post described Musk as being referred to by some Republicans as "the Soros of the right".[363]
International politics
Alongside his direct involvement in US politics, Musk frequently comments and is active within the politics of various countries and international bodies, where he has frequently shared support for right-wing to far-fight political ideas,[442][443] and has been sometimes accused internationally of spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation.[444][445][446][447] He frequently shares his political views on international politics through his social media company X.
Musk's international political activity has come under increasing scrutiny, especially in Europe, due to his position in the incoming US Government,[448] with some saying his actions and comments appear as "foreign interference" in domestic affairs.[449] Musk's comments and actions have received increasing criticism from the Governments and Leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Spain and Germany.[450][451][452][453][454]
United Kingdom
In November 2023, Musk restored Tommy Robinson's account on X (Twitter), which had been banned under Twitter's previous owners. In August 2024, Musk responded to Robinson's post criticizing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the riots taking place in the UK.[455] Musk later said, "Shouldn't you [Starmer] be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?"[456] Musk responded to a tweet that the riots were due to the "effects of mass migration and open borders", with "Civil war is inevitable."[457] Starmer's spokesman responded there is "no justification for comments like that".[458][459] Musk went on to refer to the Prime Minister as "two-tier Keir".[460] Musk promoted a conspiracy theory that the UK government was planning to build detainment camps in the Falkland Islands to hold rioters.[461][462]
In November 2024, Musk wrote that Britain was "going full Stalin" following the government's decision to end the inheritance tax exemption on agricultural assets worth more than £1 million.[463]
In December 2024, The Standard reported that Musk was planning to donate $100 million to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party ahead of the next UK election, aiming to help Farage become Prime Minister, and may route the funds through X's UK branch to bypass donation laws.[464] The following month, Musk called for a new election in the UK, saying "only Reform can save Britain".[465] Musk also called for Robinson to be released from prison, following his sentencing in October 2024 for contempt of court.[466] Farage publicly stated that Robinson was not welcome in Reform UK.[467] Musk then called for the resignation of Farage as leader of Reform UK for not having "what it takes".[468]
In January 2025, Musk criticized the UK government over its refusal for a public inquiry into the child abuse scandals in northern UK towns such as Oldham and Rotherham, where many young girls were exploited by "grooming gangs" of adult men.[469] Musk called for minister Jess Phillips to be jailed and said she is a "rape genocide apologist",[470][471] when Phillips denied requests for a national government inquiry and instead suggested that the local Oldham Council may commission an inquiry.[472][473] Minister Wes Streeting responded that Musk's comments were "misjudged and certainly misinformed".[474][475] Musk further claimed that Phillips was a hypocrite,[476][477] since she had called member of parliamentGeorge Galloway "a rape apologist" when he had questioned the rape accusation against Julian Assange.[478]
Musk also called for Prime Minister Starmer to be arrested for his record as a former top national prosecutor during the child abuse scandals.[479] Musk posted a poll on X asking whether the US should "liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government".[480][481] Musk's comments were condemned by Starmer.[482]Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey called for the UK government to summon the US ambassador over the "interfering" comments, due to Musk's position in the incoming US government.[483] On Broadcasting House, Neil Kinnock urged politicians from all parties to unite against Musk, warning that his increasing power, particularly with his role in the Trump administration, posed a threat to the UK.[484]
Germany
Tesla has one of its largest factories in Germany, which opened in 2022.[485] According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk has been "souring" on Germany and its leaders long before December 2024.[485]
In December 2024, Musk endorsed the German far-rightAfD party, stating "Only the AfD can save Germany" on his X account.[486] The endorsement came after previous comments Musk posted in June 2024 where he stated he did not believe AfD's policies were far-right and criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, calling him a "fool".[487] Following the revelation that the suspect in the 2024 Magdeburg car attack was a far-right, anti-Islam advocate who had praised Musk and the AfD,[488][489][490][491] Musk tweeted that suspect's atheism was a "scam to avoid extradition".[492] Later in December, Musk penned an op-ed supporting the AfD in Die Welt.[493][494][495]
In his 2025 new year address to the German people, Chancellor Scholz, appeared to criticize Musk's political activity relating to Germany on X saying that the federal election will be decided by the German people and "will not be decided by the owners of social media channels."[496][497][498]
On January 3, 2025, Musk announced he would be hosting a livestream with AfD leader Alice Weidel, which would be held on X, ahead of the federal elections.[499] The proposed livestream has caused backlash from German political leaders who have argued it could be election interference.[500] Musk's position as a member of the incoming Trump Administration led to Rolf Mützenich, leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundestag to make a statement in which he asked if the "interference in the election campaign were also expressed in the name of the new US government."[501]
In the interview, which took place January 9,[502] Musk said that his views were shaped by personal experiences dealing with German regulation and his observations about its political culture.[485] The European Commission announced that the interview would be analyzed to assess whether it adheres to European Union (EU) law, ensuring the platform does not give any political party preferential treatment,[503] and could potentially impact the ongoing investigation of Musk's X, for breaches of the EU Digital Services Act, which aims to combat misinformation on digital platforms and promote transparency of social media practices.[504][505][506]
In a YouTube podcast interview on November 10, 2023, Musk criticized Israel's retaliatory actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war, saying that Hamas "wanted to commit the worst atrocities that they could in order to provoke the most aggressive response possible from Israel". He added that, "if you kill somebody's child in Gaza, you have made at least a few Hamas members who will die just to kill an Israeli."[507] On November 17, 2023, Musk announced a policy change on the X platform, stating that X users who use terms such as "decolonization" and "from the river to the sea", or similar expressions that "necessarily imply genocide" of the Jewish people in Israel, will be suspended.[508] Several weeks later, Musk traveled to Israel where he toured with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the kibbutzKfar Aza, site of one of the worst atrocities during the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. He described the experience as "jarring".[509]
China
Musk has praised China and has been described as having a close relationship with the Chinese government, allowing access to its markets for Tesla.[510] After Gigafactory Shanghai produced its first batch of vehicles, Musk thanked the Chinese government and Chinese people while criticizing the United States and its people.[511]: 207–208 In 2022, Musk wrote an article for China Cyberspace, the official publication of Cyberspace Administration of China, which enforces Internet censorship in China. His writing the article was described as conflicting with his advocacy for free speech.[512][513] Musk later advocated for Taiwan to become a "special administrative zone" of China which drew cross-party criticism from Taiwanese lawmakers.[514][515][516]
In October 2022, Musk posted a Twitter poll and "peace plan" to resolve the Russian invasion of Ukraine by allowing Russia to keep the Crimea Peninsula, while Ukraine would adopt a neutral status and drop the bid to join NATO.[517][518] It was reported that Musk allegedly spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin prior to the proposal, which Musk denied.[519][520][521] Musk has repeatedly expressed concern that a protracted war between Russia and Ukraine could lead to the use of nuclear weapons and the outbreak of World War III.[522][523][524]
The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2024 that Musk had been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin, Sergey Kiriyenko, and other high ranking Russian government officials since late 2022, discussing personal topics, business and geopolitical matters. The Kremlin denied the report, stating Musk and Putin had spoken only once.[525][526] The Journal reported that in one instance Putin had asked Musk to avoid activating his Starlink satellite system over Taiwan, to appease Chinese presidentXi Jinping, according to a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the situation.[527] Bloomberg and others had also previously reported in July 2023 that communications between Taiwan and SpaceX had broken down over the ownership of Starlink's subsidiary in the country.[528][529]
The communications with Putin were reported to be a closely held secret in government, given Musk's involvement in promoting the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. One person said no alerts were raised by the US government, noting the dilemma of the government being dependent on Musk's technologies.[527] Democrat lawmakers and NASA administrator Bill Nelson stated that it should be investigated to find out if the report was accurate. "We should investigate what Elon Musk is up to to make sure that it is not to the detriment of the national security of the United States", elaborated Representative Adam Smith.[530] SpaceX officially responded via their X account stating, "Starlink is not available [in Taiwan] because Taiwan has not given us a license to operate, and regulators declined to remove a requirement that a foreign entity own 51% of Starlink to operate there. SpaceX has not accepted such a condition for any market in which it operates."[531]
On November 15, 2023, Twitter user Charles Weber, a Jewish conservative, posted a video from StopJewishHate.org condemning the phrase "Hitler was right"; Weber captioned the video: "To the cowards hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and posting 'Hitler was right': You got something you want to say? Why don't you say it to our faces."[534][535] In response, a second user posted "Okay. Jewish communities have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. I'm deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much. You want truth said to your face, there it is." To the latter user, Musk replied, "You have said the actual truth."[534][535] Musk further clarified that he does not believe that "all Jewish communities" hate white people, but specifically took aim at the ADL.[536] He added, "You right [sic] that this does not extend to all Jewish communities, but it is also not just limited to ADL."[537]
The first tweet was widely regarded as echoing white nationalist sentiments[538] and affirmed another antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews push hatred against Whites.[539][540] The following day, Musk made a tweet which critics regarded as supporting white pride.[541][542] Advertisers distanced themselves from his tweets.[543]
At the DealBook Summit on November 29, 2023, after comments from Disney CEO Bob Iger explaining his decision to stop advertising on X after Musk's recent post, journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin questioned Musk about the withdrawal of advertisers. Musk responded, "I hope they stop. Don't advertise" and "If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is"; Musk singled out Iger, saying, "Hey Bob, if you're in the audience."[544][545] Musk acknowledged to Sorkin that one of his tweets—the one affirming an antisemitic conspiracy theory—was a mistake, saying, "I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and to those who are antisemitic and for that I am quite sorry."[546] Musk described his tweet as "one of the most foolish, if not the most foolish, thing I've done".[547][548]
In January 2024, Musk visited the Auschwitz concentration camp with European Jewish Association Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Jewish conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro and Holocaust survivor Gidon Lev.[549] He also spoke on a conference about rising antisemitism.[550]The New York Times described the trip as a part of an image "rehabilitation tour".[551]
In late January 2025, Musk received criticism from many individuals and groups that advocate against antisemitism when he gave a virtual speech at a campaign rally for the far-right German party Alternative for Germany. The speech, which took place two days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, included Musk railing against multiculturalism, which he compared negatively to German culture. He said there is "too much of a focus on past guilt and we need to move beyond that", which was widely seen by critics as a reference to Nazi Germany. Abraham Foxman, who had previously criticized Musk for his straight-arm salute, stated that Musk's comments at the rally "helps place the hand gesture in perspective." Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticized Musk and the other speakers at the rally, stating that their comments about "'the need to forget German guilt for Nazi crimes' sounded all too familiar and ominous," especially coming so close to "the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz."[552]
Musk giving a gesture at the second inauguration of Donald Trump before saying "My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured."[553][554]
In his speech during the second inauguration of Donald Trump, Musk thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, and then extended his right arm out, emphatically, at an upward angle, palm down and fingers together. He then repeated the gesture to the crowd behind him. As he finished the gestures, he said to the crowd, "My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured."[553][554][555] The gesture was viewed as a Nazi or Roman salute[f] by some, including politicians Yolanda Díaz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Jerry Nadler, as well as historian of fascism Ruth Ben-Ghiat.[556][557][558] Austria's Green Party and Germany's Die Linke called for Musk to be banned from entering their respective countries, citing the salute and his support for right-wing extremism and ongoing interference in European politics.[559][560] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Musk was "falsely smeared".[561]
Musk derided the claims as being politicized,[562][563] in one post he wrote: "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired",[564] but did not explicitly deny the claims.[565] The Anti-Defamation League stated that Musk did not make a Nazi salute, but "made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm". Jared Holt from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks online hate, also said that he is skeptical it was on purpose, and that it could indicate a sort of gesture of thanks to the crowd.[565][566] However, former ADL national director Abraham Foxman described the gesture as a "Heil Hitler Nazi salute".[567] In further response to the events, Musk posted a series of puns about Nazis on Twitter, which the ADL condemned as "inappropriate" and "highly offensive".[568] Various media outlets, including the Associated Press, reported that regardless of what Musk meant, his gesture was widely embraced by right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis.[565][569]
COVID-19
Musk wearing a bandana as a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic, April 2021
In March 2020, Musk stated, "The coronavirus panic is dumb."[573][574] In an email to Tesla employees, Musk referred to COVID-19 as a "specific form of the common cold" and predicted that confirmed COVID-19 cases would not exceed 0.1% of the US population.[570] On March 19, 2020, Musk predicted that there would be "probably close to zero" new cases in the US by end of April.[571]Politico labeled this statement one of "the most audacious, confident, and spectacularly incorrect prognostications [of 2020]".[575] Musk also falsely stated that children "are essentially immune" to COVID-19.[576][577]
In March 2020, Musk promised that Tesla would make ventilators for COVID-19 patients if there were a shortage.[584] After figures such as New York City mayor Bill de Blasio responded to Musk's offer,[585] Musk offered to donate ventilators which Tesla would build or buy from a third party.[584] However, Musk ultimately purchased and donated BiPAP and CPAP machines rather than ventilators.[586][587]
In September 2020, Musk stated that he would not get the COVID-19 vaccine, because he and his children were "not at risk for COVID".[588][589] Two months later, Musk contracted COVID-19 but suggested his COVID-19 rapid antigen test results were dubious, as he had been tested four times on the same device with the same nurse but had received equal numbers of positive and negative results.[590] In December 2021, Musk said that he and his eligible children had received the vaccine, saying that the science behind the COVID vaccines was "unequivocal" but expressing his opposition to COVID vaccine mandates.[591]
Personal life
Musk became a US citizen in 2002.[592] From the early 2000s until late 2020, Musk resided in California, where both Tesla and SpaceX were founded.[593] He then relocated to Boca Chica, Texas,[594][595] saying that California had become "complacent" about its economic success.[593][596][597]
While hosting Saturday Night Live in 2021, Musk stated that he has Asperger syndrome, although he has never been medically diagnosed.[598][599] Musk suffers from back pain and has undergone several spine-related surgeries, including a disc replacement.[600][601] He once contracted severe malaria while on vacation in South Africa.[602] Musk has stated he uses doctor-prescribed ketamine for occasional depression and that he doses it "once every other week",[603] while The Wall Street Journal has repeatedly alleged he takes it and other drugs recreationally.[604][605][606]
In his leisure time, he plays video games including Quake, Diablo IV, Elden Ring, and Polytopia.[607][608] In January 2025, several online influencers and game streamers claimed Musk cheated on Path of Exile 2 and Diablo IV by hiring outside services to invest hours of play into his accounts.[609]
Relationships and children
Musk has twelve children, one of whom is deceased.[1] He met his first wife, Canadian author Justine Wilson, while attending Queen's University in Ontario, Canada; they married in 2000.[610] In 2002, their first child died of sudden infant death syndrome at the age of 10 weeks.[611] After the baby's death, the couple used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to continue their family;[612] they had twins in 2004 followed by triplets in 2006.[612] The couple divorced in 2008 and have shared custody of their children.[613][614]
The elder twin later came out as a trans woman and, in 2022, officially changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson,[615] adopting her mother's surname because she no longer wished to be associated with Musk.[615] Musk blamed the estrangement on what the Financial Times characterized as "the supposed takeover of elite schools and universities by neo-Marxists", and has said that Vivian's gender transition is primarily what sparked his drive to "destroy the woke mind virus".[616][617] In a July 2024 episode of Jordan Peterson's podcast, Musk said that he had "lost [his] son, essentially" because of gender-affirming care. He commented: "You know, they call it deadnaming for a reason. The reason it's called deadnaming is because your son is dead", again referring to the "woke mind virus," stating that Vivian "is dead, killed by the woke mind virus".[618] Vivian responded publicly, criticizing Musk for his comments on the transition; saying that Musk was "cold", "quick to anger", "uncaring and narcissistic", and that his infrequent visits commonly involved him berating her for being feminine.[619] On November 7, 2024, in response to a news article about his daughter's reaction to Trump's election, Musk repeated "the woke mind virus killed my son."[620]
In 2008, Musk began dating English actress Talulah Riley.[621] They married two years later at Dornoch Cathedral in Scotland.[622][623] In 2012, the couple divorced, before remarrying the following year.[624] After briefly filing for divorce in 2014,[624] Musk finalized a second divorce from Riley in 2016.[625] Musk then dated Amber Heard for several months in 2017;[626] he had reportedly been "pursuing" her since 2012.[627]
In 2018, Musk and Canadian musician Grimes said that they were dating.[628] Grimes gave birth to their son in May 2020.[629][630] Musk and Grimes originally gave the baby the name "X Æ A-12", which would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet,[631][632] which they then changed to "X Æ A-Xii".[633][634] They have received criticism for choosing a name perceived to be impractical and difficult to pronounce.[635]
In December 2021, Grimes and Musk had a second child, a daughter born via surrogacy.[636] Despite the pregnancy, Musk confirmed reports that the couple were "semi-separated" in September 2021; in an interview with Time in December 2021, he said he was single.[637][638] In March 2022, Grimes said of her relationship with Musk: "I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we're very fluid."[636] Later that month, Grimes tweeted that she and Musk had broken up again.[639] In September 2023 it was reported that the pair had a third child, a son.[640] In October 2023, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights and custody of their eldest son.[641][642][643]
In July 2022, Insider published court documents revealing that Musk had twins via IVF with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, in November 2021.[644] They were born weeks before Musk and Grimes had their second child via surrogate in December. The news "raise[d] questions about workplace ethics", given that Zilis directly reported to Musk.[645] Their third child together was born in early 2024 via surrogacy.[646][1] Also in July 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk allegedly had an affair with Nicole Shanahan, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, in 2021, leading to their divorce the following year.[647] Musk denied the report.[648] Musk also had a relationship with Australian actress Natasha Bassett, who has been described as "an occasional girlfriend".[649] In October 2024, The New York Times reported Musk bought a Texas compound for his children and their mothers,[650] though Musk denied having done so.[651]
In October 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Musk over his refusal to testify a third time in an investigation into whether he violated federal law by purchasing Twitter stock in 2022.[652][653][654] In February 2024, Judge Laurel Beeler ruled that Musk must testify again.[655] In January 2025, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for securities violations related to his purchase of Twitter.[656] In January 2024, Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in a 2018 lawsuit that Musk's $55 billion pay package from Tesla be rescinded.[657] McCormick called the compensation granted by the company's board "an unfathomable sum" that was unfair to shareholders.[658]
Musk and his America PAC were sued in Pennsylvania for allegedly operating an unlawful lottery before the 2024 US presidential election.[659] In November 2024, he was sued again regarding the lottery[660] and two US senators called for a probe into alleged contacts with Vladimir Putin.[661] A former Twitter executive sued Musk for "cheating" him and other ousted executives out of $200 million in severance pay.[662] A 22-year-old college graduate initiated a defamation lawsuit in October 2023 against Musk for over $1 million, alleging that Musk had falsely identified him as a participant "in a violent street brawl on behalf of a neo-Nazi extremist group" near Portland, Oregon.[663][664][665] Olympic boxer Imane Khelif filed a lawsuit for cyber harassment against X over alleged "acts of aggravated cyber harassment", in which Musk was named.[666]
In May 2022, Business Insider cited an anonymous friend of an unnamed SpaceX contract flight attendant, alleging that Musk engaged in sexual misconduct in 2016.[667][668][669] After the release of the article, Tesla's stock fell by more than 6%,[670] and Barron's wrote of the fall that "some investors considered key-man risk – the danger that a company could be badly hurt by the loss of one individual."[671] In June 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported Musk had a "romantic relationship" with a former intern at SpaceX, confirmed with affidavits supplied by the intern's lawyers who also represent Musk, and alleged that he had sexual relations with a woman who directly reported to him there and pursued sex with other SpaceX employees".[672] In the same month, eight ex-employees, the same eight who were previously fired for penning an anti-Musk letter at SpaceX, filed a lawsuit against Musk alleging sexual harassment.[673]
Although his ventures have been highly influential within their separate industries starting in the 2000s, Musk only became a public figure in the early 2010s. He has been described as an eccentric who makes spontaneous and impactful decisions, while also often making controversial statements, contrary to other billionaires who prefer reclusiveness to protect their businesses. Musk's actions and his expressed views have made him a polarizing figure.[674] Biographer Ashlee Vance described people's opinions of Musk as polarized due to his "part philosopher, part troll" persona on Twitter.[675]
Musk has been described as an American oligarch due to his extensive influence over public discourse, social media, industry, politics, and government policy.[676] His influence in the second presidency of Donald Trump led some to call him the "actual president-elect", "shadow president" or "co-president".[677][678]
^Musk stated he was considering taking Tesla private at a price of $420 a share, an alleged reference to marijuana.[152] Members of Tesla's board and rapper Azealia Banks alleged that Musk may have been under the influence of recreational drugs when he wrote the tweet.[153][154]
^He did not file the necessary SEC paperwork within 10 days of his stake passing 5%, a violation of US securities laws.[207]
^The "Roman salute" is a gesture which was used by Italian Fascists, then adopted by the Nazis. It is not believed to have been used by ancient Romans.
^Keating, Joseph C. Jr. (September 1995). "Joshua N Haldeman, DC: the Canadian Years, 1926–1950". The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association. PMC2485067.
^ abFriend, Tad (August 17, 2009). "Plugged In". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022.
^ abcSmith, Adam (June 28, 2021). "50 years of Elon Musk's huge wealth, from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla". The Independent. Archived from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021. teenage Elon Musk once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket. His father said: "We were very wealthy. We had so much money at times we couldn't even close our safe," adding that one person would have to hold the money in place with another closing the door. "And then there'd still be all these notes sticking out and we'd sort of pull them out and put them in our pockets."
^Vance (2017), pp. 43–44. What rarely gets mentions is that Musk attended the University of Pretoria for five months before heading off on his grand adventure. ... Musk characterized the time at university as just something to do while he awaited his Canadian documentation.
^Vance (2017), p. 45. After a 1,900-mile bus ride, he ended up in Swift Current, a town of fifteen thousands people. Musk called a second cousin out of the blue from the bus station and hitched a ride to his house.
^Vance (2017), p. 46. Musk spent the next year working a series of odd jobs around Canada. He tended vegetables and shoved out grain bins at a cousin's farm located in the tiny town of Waldeck. ... He inquired about the job with the best wage, which turned out to be a gig cleaning the boiler room of a lumber mill for eighteen dollars an hour.
^Vance (2017), pp. 46–47. Elon ended up enrolling at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, in 1989.
^ abVance (2017), p. 368. Musk produced a document for me dated June 22, 2009, that came from Judith Haccou, the director of graduate admissions in the office of the registrar at Stanford University. It read, "As per special request from my colleagues in the School of Engineering, I have searched Stanford's admission data base and acknowledge that you applied and were admitted to the graduate program in Material Science Engineering in 1995. Since you did not enroll, Stanford is not able to issue you an official certification document." Musk also had an explanation for the weird timing on his degrees from Penn. "I had a History and an English credit that I agreed with Penn that I would do at Stanford," he said. "The I put Stanford on deferment. Later, Penn's requirements changed so that you don't need the English and History credit. So they awarded me the degree in '97 when it was clear I was not going to go to grad school, and their requirement was no longer there."
^ abVance (2017), Appendix 1. I called Penn's registrar and verified these findings. Copies of Musk's records show that he received a dual degree in economics and physics in May 1997. O'Reilly also subpoenaed the registrar's office at Stanford to verify Musk's admittance in 1995 for his doctorate work in physics. "Based on the information you provided, we are unable to locate a record in our office for Elon Musk," wrote the director of graduate admissions.
^Schilling, Melissa (2018). Quirky: The remarkable story of the traits, foibles, and genius of breakthrough innovators who changed the world. PublicAffairs. ISBN978-1-61039-792-6.
^LaMonica, Martin (September 2009). "Tesla Motors founders: Now there are five". CNET. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020. Tesla Motors and co-founder Martin Eberhard announced an agreement over who can claim to be a founder of the company on Monday.
^Schwartz, Ariel (September 21, 2009). "Tesla Lawsuit Drama Ends as Five Company Founders Emerge". Fast Company. Archived from the original on June 6, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2020. Eberhard and Musk have reached a rather unexpected resolution–instead of agreeing to share the title of "founder", the pair has designated five people as company founders, including Musk, Eberhard, JB Straubel, Mark Tarpenning, and Ian Wright.
^Kolodny, Lora; Bursztynsky, Jessica (April 27, 2022). "Elon Musk wins shareholder lawsuit over Tesla's $2.6 billion SolarCity acquisition". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022. According to emails that were part of evidence in the trial, Musk wrote an e-mail to SolarCity CFO Brad Buss on Sept. 18, 2016, saying that to get Tesla investors on board with the deal, SolarCity needed to get a handle on its liquidity problem and sign a letter of intent for a contract with Panasonic.
^Perez, Evan; O'Sullivan, Donie; Fung, Brian (December 23, 2022). "No directive: FBI agents, tech executives deny government ordered Twitter to suppress Hunter Biden story". CNN. Archived from the original on March 21, 2024. Retrieved April 15, 2024. Matt Taibbi, one of the journalists Musk tapped this month to comb through Twitter internal messages for evidence of free speech violations, said himself on December 2 that "there is no evidence – that I've seen – of any government involvement in the laptop story."
^Fung, Brian (June 6, 2023). "Twitter's own lawyers refute Elon Musk's claim that the 'Twitter Files' exposed US government censorship". CNN. Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2023. Now, though, Twitter's own lawyers are disputing those claims in a case involving former President Donald Trump — forcefully rejecting any suggestion that the Twitter Files show what Musk and many Republicans assert they contain. In a court filing last week, Twitter's attorneys contested one of the most central allegations to emerge from the Twitter Files: that regular communications between the FBI and Twitter ahead of the 2020 election amounted to government coercion to censor content or, worse, that Twitter had become an actual arm of the US government.
Vance (2017), p. 340. "Elon's worst trait by far, in my opinion, is a complete lack of loyalty or human connection. Many of us worked tirelessly for him for years and were tossed to the curb like a piece of litter without a second thought. Maybe it was calculated to keep the rest of the workforce on their toes and scared; maybe he was just able to detach from human connection to a remarkable degree. What was clear is that people who worked for him were like ammunition: used for a specific purpose until exhausted and discarded."
^"Elon Musk Makes Fun of Twitter T-Shirts Linked to BLM Protests". Bloomberg.com. November 23, 2022. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022. Elon Musk is courting more controversy at Twitter Inc., posting a video making fun of old t-shirts at the social media service that date back to the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement.
^"Musk Ultimatum to Taiwan Imperils Its Push to War-Proof Internet". Bloomberg.com. July 6, 2023. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved October 26, 2024. The Taiwanese and SpaceX began exploratory talks about the satellite supply chain in 2019, but in early 2022, the cordial tenor of those talks changed. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., as SpaceX is formally known, and its representatives in Taiwan began urging government officials to change a law that requires any telecommunications joint venture to have local majority ownership of at least 51%, according to two officials who took part in the meetings.
^Ball, Molly; Kluger, Jeffrey; De La Garza, Alejandro (December 13, 2021). "Elon Musk: Person of the Year". Time. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
^Parker, Ashley; Dawsey, Josh; Scherer, Michael (November 13, 2024). "Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, becomes Donald Trump's 'first buddy'". The Washington Post. ISSN0190-8286. Retrieved December 19, 2024. Now, during the transition, Musk has emerged somewhere between unofficial co-president and "first buddy," as he put it in an X posting — bounding in and out of meetings, sitting in on phone calls, weighing résumés and generally becoming as ubiquitous at Mar-a-Lago as the club's gilded inlay.
^Metzger, Bryan (December 19, 2024). "Trump team makes clear Elon Musk isn't the leader of the GOP". Business Insider. It came after scores of Democrats baited Trump with social media posts accusing Musk of being the actual president-elect, the "shadow president," or the "co-president."
Kidder, David; Hoffman, Reid (2013). The Startup Playbook: Secrets of the Fastest Growing Start-Ups from the founding Entrepreneurs. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books. ISBN978-1-4521-0504-8.
Tarnoff, Ben, "Ultra Hardcore"(subscription required) (review of Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk, Simon and Schuster, 2023, 670 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXXI, no. 1 (January 18, 2024), pp. 6, 8, 10. "There is an anti-modern impulse to Musk, a craving for lordship that can't be entirely satisfied within the confines of a capitalist economy. A king doesn't have advertisers or shareholders or customers, and Musk, if he continues on his current trajectory, may very well be abandoned by all three. Aristotle says a good ending should be surprising but inevitable. It's possible to imagine multiple finales for Musk that meet these criteria, but the story always begins the same way. Once upon a time in Pretoria, there was a boy who wanted to be a man." (p. 10.)
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