Who is Elon Musk and what is his net worth?

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X, is the world's richest person and is projected to become a trillionaire following a record pay package and a potential SpaceX flotation [1]. Musk became the first person to achieve a net worth of more than half a trillion dollars in October 2025 [1]. A month later, Tesla shareholders approved a pay deal that could be worth $1 trillion over ten years if he meets specific goals [1][4]. The planned flotation of SpaceX, where shares are expected to be offered at $135 each, could push his total net worth to about $1tn [1]. As of June 2026, Forbes estimates his wealth at $834 billion [4]. His fortune originated with the 2002 sale of PayPal to eBay for $1.5bn [1][4]. He used those funds to found SpaceX in 2002 and became CEO of Tesla in 2008 [1][4]. More recently, he acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, rebranding it as X and implementing significant workforce reductions [1][5]. Musk's high profile extends beyond business into global politics, where he has become a polarizing figure [4]. He was the largest donor in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, supporting Donald Trump, and briefly served as a Senior Advisor in Trump's administration before a public feud erupted between the two in mid-2025 [3][4]. The feud, played out on social media, thawed by September 2025 when the two men publicly reunited [3]. His other ventures include the neurotechnology firm Neuralink and the tunneling company Boring Company [4]. Musk was also an early co-founder of OpenAI in 2015 but later left, establishing his own AI firm, xAI, in 2023 [4]. He has faced numerous legal challenges, including a dismissed 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI [1].