How Elon Musk Built the Fortune
Elon Musk is worth an estimated $417.59B today — #1 on the world's rich list. Co-founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX; also owns X (formerly Twitter) and founded The Boring Company and Neuralink.
The fortune didn't appear overnight. The first milestone on the public record came at age 24: co-founded zip2. Everything after that is a chain of documented decisions — this is that chain, year by year.
The Milestones
1995: Co-founded Zip2
at age 24Started his first company, the web-software firm Zip2, with his brother Kimbal.
1999: Founded X.com
at age 28After selling Zip2, he founded the online bank X.com, which became PayPal.
2002: PayPal sale & SpaceX
at age 31eBay acquired PayPal; Musk used the proceeds to found the rocket company SpaceX.
2004: Invested in Tesla
at age 33Led an early investment in Tesla and joined as chairman of its board.
2008: Became Tesla CEO
at age 37Took over as Tesla's CEO; SpaceX reached orbit with the Falcon 1.
2022: Acquired Twitter
at age 51Bought Twitter for about $44 billion and later renamed it X.
2023: Founded xAI
at age 52Launched the artificial-intelligence company xAI.
Today: #1 in the world
Elon's net worth is an estimated $417.59B, updated in real time from public holdings. See the live number →
Milestones are drawn from widely-reported public history; ages are computed from the birth year and can be off by one depending on the month. Net worth is our real-time estimate.