Musk Net Worth 2026: Biography, Age & Career

Elon Musk stands as the wealthiest person in the world with a staggering net worth that continues to break records. But who is the man behind the billions? This comprehensive guide explores everything from his current fortune to his childhood in South Africa, revealing the fascinating journey of the world’s richest entrepreneur.

Quick Facts About Elon Musk

Elon Musk Net Worth 2026: How Rich Is He Really?

Elon Musk net worth has reached an unprecedented $844 billion as of February 2026, according to Forbes, making him not just the richest person alive but the first human to approach the trillion-dollar mark. His wealth comes primarily from his ownership stakes in several groundbreaking companies.

Breaking Down Musk’s Massive Fortune

The Tesla CEO’s wealth isn’t tied to just one company. Here’s how his fortune breaks down:

SpaceX & xAI Combined: Following the historic merger in February 2026, Musk holds approximately 43% of the combined entity valued at $1.25 trillion. This stake alone is worth over $530 billion, making it his single largest asset.

Tesla Stock Holdings: Musk owns roughly 11-12% of Tesla, Inc., the electric vehicle giant he’s led since 2008. Despite Tesla stock fluctuations, this stake contributes significantly to his overall wealth.

X (formerly Twitter): After acquiring the social media platform for $44 billion in 2022, Musk merged it with xAI in 2025, consolidating his digital empire.

Other Ventures: His stakes in Neuralink (neurotechnology), The Boring Company (infrastructure), and other investments add billions more to his fortune.

The Path to $1 Trillion

Musk’s journey to becoming potentially the world’s first trillionaire involves several catalysts. In November 2025, Tesla shareholders approved a revolutionary pay package worth up to $1 trillion, paid out over 10 years if specific milestones are met. The first tranche requires Tesla to reach a $2 trillion market capitalization.

Additionally, reports suggest SpaceX plans to go public in 2026, which would make Musk’s wealth even more liquid and potentially push his net worth past the trillion-dollar threshold.

How Musk’s Wealth Compares to Other Billionaires

The gap between Musk and the world’s second-richest person is staggering. As of February 2026, Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, has a net worth of approximately $272 billion. This means Musk is worth more than the next three richest people combined—a level of wealth concentration unprecedented in human history.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracks Musk’s net worth at approximately $690 billion, showing how different calculation methods can vary by over $150 billion depending on how private company valuations are assessed.

Biography: From South African Kid to World’s Richest Man

Early Life in Pretoria

Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital. His mother, Maye Musk, is a celebrated model and dietitian born in Saskatchewan, Canada. His father, Errol Musk, is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and businessman who once owned a share in an emerald mine.

Growing up in South Africa during apartheid was challenging for young Elon. He was an introverted, bookish child who found solace in reading and computers. By age nine, he had read every book in his local library. His voracious reading included science fiction classics like “The Lord of the Rings,” Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series, and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”—books he credits with shaping his vision for humanity’s future.

Childhood Struggles and Bullying

Despite his intellectual gifts, Musk’s childhood wasn’t easy. He was severely bullied at school, enduring both verbal and physical abuse. In one particularly brutal incident, classmates threw him down concrete steps and beat him so badly he was hospitalized. His father reportedly berated him after he was discharged from the hospital, an event that deeply affected their relationship.

These traumatic experiences contributed to Musk’s estrangement from his father, which continues to this day. However, they also forged the resilience and determination that would later define his business career.

First Entrepreneurial Success at Age 12

At age 10, Musk discovered computers and taught himself programming using a VIC-20 user manual. By age 12, he had created his first commercial product: a BASIC-based video game called “Blastar.” He sold it to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500 (equivalent to about $1,579 in 2024).

This early success wasn’t just about money—it proved to young Elon that his ideas could have real-world value, planting the seeds for his future entrepreneurial ventures.

Age and Personal Details: The Man Behind the Headlines

How Old Is Elon Musk in 2026?

Elon Musk is 54 years old as of 2026. Born in June 1971, he’s in his mid-fifties but shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, friends and colleagues often describe his work ethic as relentless, regularly working 80-100 hour weeks across his multiple companies.

Physical Appearance and Health

Height: Elon Musk stands at 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm), making him taller than most tech industry leaders. His height gives him a commanding presence at public events and business meetings.

Weight and Fitness: Musk’s weight has fluctuated over the years, reaching over 300 pounds in 2023. However, he underwent a dramatic transformation, losing approximately 40-50 pounds using the prescription medication Mounjaro. As of 2026, he weighs around 200 pounds (90 kg).

Hair and Eyes: He has dark brown hair (with some speculation about hair transplant surgery to address earlier hair loss) and distinctive moss green eyes that often appear hazel in different lighting.

Health Conditions: In 2021, while hosting Saturday Night Live, Musk revealed that he has Asperger syndrome, now classified under autism spectrum disorder. He’s spoken about how this affects his perception of social cues and communication. Additionally, he suffers from chronic back pain and has undergone several spine-related surgeries, including disc replacement.

Medication and Lifestyle

Musk has been open about using doctor-prescribed ketamine for occasional depression, stating he doses “a small amount once every other week.” He’s also discussed using weight-loss medications and practices intermittent fasting to maintain his health despite his demanding schedule.

He reportedly sleeps around 6 hours per night and uses time-blocking techniques, scheduling his day in five-minute increments to maximize productivity across his various companies.

Education: Building the Foundation for Genius

Early Schooling in South Africa

Musk attended three schools in South Africa:

• Waterkloof House Preparatory School
• Bryanston High School
• Pretoria Boys High School (where he graduated)

While intelligent, Musk was not an exceptional student by traditional measures. He earned a 61/100 in Afrikaans and received a B on his senior math certification. However, his true education came from books—he was a voracious reader who absorbed information at an extraordinary rate.

Leaving South Africa for Canada

At 17, Musk made a crucial decision: leave South Africa to avoid mandatory military service under apartheid. He applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother and arrived in Canada in June 1989. This move was strategic—he believed Canadian citizenship would make it easier to eventually immigrate to the United States.

While waiting for his Canadian passport, he briefly attended the University of Pretoria for five months.

University of Pennsylvania: Dual Degrees

In 1990, Musk entered Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where he met his first wife, Justine Wilson. After two years, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

At Penn, Musk pursued an ambitious dual-degree program:

• Bachelor of Arts in Physics (1997)
• Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School (1997)

Although Musk has stated he completed his studies in 1995, the University of Pennsylvania didn’t officially award his degrees until 1997. During his time there, he reportedly hosted large, ticketed house parties to help pay tuition and even wrote a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service similar to what would later become Google Books.

Stanford Graduate School: Two Days and Out

In 1995, Musk was accepted to Stanford University’s graduate program in materials science and energy physics. This could have led to a PhD. However, Musk attended for just two days before dropping out.

Why? The internet boom was exploding, and Musk didn’t want to miss the opportunity. He saw the potential of the emerging digital economy and decided to start his first company instead of pursuing academic credentials. It’s a decision that would prove extraordinarily profitable.

Career Journey: From Zip2 to SpaceX and Beyond

Zip2: The First Fortune (1995-1999)

In 1995, Musk, his brother Kimbal, and Greg Kouri founded Zip2, a web software company that provided online city guides for newspapers. They operated out of a small rented office in Palo Alto, with Musk coding the website at night while it ran during the day.

The company secured contracts with The New York Times and Chicago Tribune. Although Musk wanted to become CEO, the board rejected his attempts. In February 1999, Compaq acquired Zip2 for $307 million in cash. Musk’s 7% share netted him $22 million—his first substantial wealth.

X.com and PayPal: The Big Breakthrough (1999-2002)

With his Zip2 earnings, Musk co-founded X.com in 1999, an online financial services company. It was one of the first federally insured online banks and quickly attracted over 200,000 customers.

However, investors viewed Musk as inexperienced and replaced him as CEO by year’s end. In 2000, X.com merged with Confinity, which had its own payment service called PayPal. The merged company focused on PayPal, and after internal power struggles, Musk was ousted as CEO again, replaced by Peter Thiel.

Despite losing operational control, Musk remained the largest shareholder. When eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock, Musk received $175.8 million for his 11.72% stake. This windfall would fund his next, even more ambitious ventures.

SpaceX: Reaching for the Stars (2002-Present)

In 2002, Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) with $100 million of his PayPal earnings. His goal was audacious: make space travel affordable and eventually colonize Mars.

SpaceX’s early years were brutal. The first three Falcon 1 rocket launches failed, nearly bankrupting Musk. In 2008, just when he was about to give up, the fourth launch succeeded, reaching Earth orbit.

Major SpaceX Achievements:

• 2012: First commercial spacecraft (Dragon) to dock with the International Space Station
• 2015: First successful landing of an orbital rocket’s first stage
• 2018: Launched Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful operational rocket
• 2020: First private company to send astronauts to the ISS (Demo-2 mission)
• 2024: NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract to deorbit the ISS

As of 2026, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation comprises over 7,600 satellites—65% of all operational Earth satellites—providing internet access globally.

The SpaceX-xAI Merger: In February 2026, SpaceX merged with Musk’s AI company xAI in a landmark $1.25 trillion deal, fundamentally reshaping his business empire and massively boosting his net worth.

Tesla: Revolutionizing Transportation (2004-Present)

Musk didn’t found Tesla—that credit goes to Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003. However, Musk led the Series A funding round in February 2004, investing $6.35 million, becoming the majority shareholder and chairman.

Following conflicts during the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was ousted, and Musk assumed leadership as CEO and product architect. A 2009 lawsuit settlement designated Musk as a co-founder.

Tesla’s Evolution Under Musk:

• 2008: Launched Roadster (first mass-production electric car with lithium-ion batteries)
• 2012: Model S sedan
• 2015: Model X crossover
• 2017: Model 3 (mass-market sedan)
• 2020: Model Y crossover
• 2023: Cybertruck pickup

Tesla became the world’s most valuable automaker in 2020 and entered the S&P 500 that same year. By October 2021, it reached a $1 trillion market capitalization.

Musk’s Compensation: Musk receives no salary from Tesla. Instead, his 2018 compensation plan ties earnings to Tesla’s valuation and revenue milestones. In November 2025, shareholders approved a new pay package potentially worth $1 trillion over 10 years.

Twitter/X Acquisition: The Controversial Deal (2022-Present)

In early 2022, Musk acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter, becoming its largest shareholder. By April, he made a $43 billion offer to buy the company outright. After attempting to back out, Musk completed the purchase for approximately $44 billion in October 2022.

He immediately fired top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, became CEO himself, and implemented dramatic changes:

• Instituted paid verification (“blue checks”)
• Laid off significant portions of the workforce
• Reduced content moderation
• Rebranded the platform as “X” in 2023

The acquisition has been controversial, with increased hate speech reported and major advertisers pulling spending. In 2025, Musk merged X with xAI, his artificial intelligence company.

Other Ventures: Neuralink, Boring Company, and More

Neuralink (2016): Co-founded with a $100 million investment, Neuralink aims to create brain-computer interfaces. In September 2023, the FDA approved human trials, which began in 2024.

The Boring Company (2017): Founded to build underground transportation tunnels. The company completed a tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center in 2021.

OpenAI (2015-2018): Musk co-founded this AI research company with a $1 billion pledge (giving $50 million initially). He left the board in 2018 due to disagreements about direction.

xAI (2023-Present): Launched in July 2023 to develop generative AI competing with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company raised funding at a $250 billion valuation before merging with SpaceX in 2026.

Family and Personal Relationships: A Complex Web

Parents and Siblings

Mother – Maye Musk: A successful model and dietitian who continues appearing in fashion campaigns and on magazine covers well into her 70s. She was born in Canada and raised Elon with a strong work ethic.

Father – Errol Musk: An electromechanical engineer, pilot, and businessman. Elon has described their relationship as troubled and is largely estranged from his father.

Brother – Kimbal Musk: A restaurateur and philanthropist who runs The Kitchen Restaurant Group and works on urban farming initiatives. He’s estimated to be about 6’4″, slightly taller than Elon.

Sister – Tosca Musk: A filmmaker and director who produces romance content through her company Passionflix.

Elon also has four paternal half-siblings from his father’s other relationships.

Marriages and Relationships

Justine Wilson (2000-2008): Musk’s first wife, a Canadian author he met at Queen’s University. They married in 2000. Their first child, Nevada, died of sudden infant death syndrome at 10 weeks old in 2002. Using IVF, they had twins in 2004 and triplets in 2006. The couple divorced in 2008 and share custody of their five surviving children. Justine later revealed to Marie Claire that Elon viewed her as a “starter wife.”

Talulah Riley (2010-2012, 2013-2016): English actress whom Musk married twice. They first married in 2010, divorced in 2012 at Elon’s request, remarried in 2013, then divorced again when Riley filed in 2016.

Other Relationships: Musk has had relationships with actress Amber Heard, musician Grimes (with whom he had two children), and Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink (with whom he had twins).

Children: A Growing Family

Musk is a pronatalist who believes population decline is the biggest threat to civilization. He has fathered at least 14 known children, though The Wall Street Journal reported in 2025 that sources suggest “the true number of Musk’s children is much higher than publicly known.”

With Justine Wilson:

• Nevada Alexander Musk (2002, died at 10 weeks)
• Griffin and Vivian (twins, born 2004)
• Kai, Saxon, and Damian (triplets, born 2006)

Note: Vivian came out as a trans woman in 2022, changed her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson, and adopted her mother’s surname, stating she no longer wished to be associated with Musk.

With Grimes (Claire Boucher):

• X Æ A-Xii (son, born 2020)
• Exa Dark Sideræl (daughter, born 2021)
• Techno Mechanicus (son, born 2023)

With Shivon Zilis:

• Twins (born 2021)
• Third child (born 2024)

Musk has spoken openly about his hands-on approach to fatherhood despite his demanding business schedule, describing his family as “unconventional but loving.”

Political Views and Controversies

Political Evolution

Musk’s political journey has shifted dramatically. He supported Barack Obama (2008, 2012), Hillary Clinton (2016), and Joe Biden (2020). However, in 2022, he announced he would start voting Republican and gave over $50 million to conservative political action committees.

In 2024, Musk became the largest individual donor to the presidential election, supporting Donald Trump with substantial financial contributions and public endorsements. After Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, Musk served as Senior Advisor to the President and led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Trump Administration Stint

Musk’s role in the second Trump administration proved controversial. He was designated a “special government employee” and tasked with cutting federal spending. His approach led to mass layoffs of federal workers and cuts to agencies like USAID, which modeling estimated resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths by mid-2025.

On May 28, 2025, Musk departed from the Trump administration after his 130-day deadline expired. His exit was followed by a dramatic public feud with Trump in June 2025, where Musk alleged Trump had ties to Jeffrey Epstein and called for impeachment. Musk later apologized for these tweets.

Controversial Statements and Actions

Musk has faced criticism for:

• Promoting conspiracy theories and misinformation
• Making statements condemned as antisemitic (though he describes himself as “pro-Semite”)
• COVID-19 misinformation and defying lockdown restrictions
• Amplifying far-right political movements globally
• A gesture at Trump’s inauguration that many interpreted as a Nazi salute (which Musk denied)

Net Worth Milestones: The Journey to $844 Billion

The Wealth Timeline

2002: After PayPal sale: $175.8 million 2012: First appeared on Forbes Billionaires List: $2 billion 2020 (Start): $27 billion 2020 (End): $177 billion (+$150 billion in one year) January 2021: Became world’s richest person: $285 billion November 2021: First person to exceed $300 billion December 2022: Lost $100 billion (first person to lose that much) December 2024: First person to exceed $400 billion February 2026: $844 billion (Forbes) / $690 billion (Bloomberg)

The Volatile Nature of Musk’s Wealth

Musk’s net worth is notoriously volatile. On September 8, 2020, it dropped $16.3 billion in a single day—the largest one-day decline in Bloomberg Billionaires Index history at that time.

Between December 2024 and March 2025, his net worth dropped by $126 billion due to backlash over his association with the Trump administration and DOGE-related controversies.

However, the SpaceX-xAI merger in February 2026 added approximately $84 billion to his fortune almost overnight, demonstrating how corporate actions can dramatically impact his wealth.

What Makes Musk Different from Other Billionaires?

Multiple Revolutionary Companies

Unlike most billionaires whose wealth stems from a single company (Bezos-Amazon, Gates-Microsoft, Zuckerberg-Facebook), Musk runs multiple industry-transforming businesses simultaneously:

• SpaceX: Revolutionizing space travel and satellite internet
• Tesla: Leading the electric vehicle revolution
• xAI: Competing in cutting-edge artificial intelligence
• Neuralink: Pioneering brain-computer interfaces
• The Boring Company: Reimagining urban transportation

The “Muskonomy”

Financial analysts have coined the term “Muskonomy” to describe the $1.25 trillion ecosystem of Musk’s interconnected companies. This vertical integration across aerospace, AI, electric vehicles, and digital platforms is unprecedented in business history.

Vision for Humanity’s Future

Musk’s stated goal isn’t just wealth accumulation—it’s ensuring humanity becomes a multi-planetary species. He’s publicly stated he’s “accumulating resources for humanity’s outward expansion to space.” Whether you find this visionary or grandiose, it certainly sets him apart from most billionaires focused primarily on shareholder returns.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Future: What’s Next for Elon Musk?

As of February 2026, several major developments could impact Musk’s wealth and influence:

SpaceX IPO: Reports suggest the company plans to go public in 2026, which would make Musk’s stake more liquid and potentially add hundreds of billions to his accessible wealth.

Tesla Milestones: If Tesla hits the targets in Musk’s compensation package, he could receive up to $1 trillion in additional shares over the next decade.

Mars Mission: SpaceX continues developing Starship with the goal of landing humans on Mars in the late 2020s or early 2030s.

AI Development: The xAI merger with SpaceX positions Musk to compete directly with OpenAI and other major AI players, potentially creating another multi-hundred-billion-dollar business.

Political Influence: Despite his departure from the Trump administration and subsequent feud, Musk remains politically active and influential, particularly in supporting far-right movements globally.

Conclusion

Elon Musk’s journey from a bullied child in South Africa to the world’s richest person is extraordinary by any measure. With a net worth of $844 billion in 2026, he stands alone at the peak of global wealth.

But Musk is more than just his bank account. At 54 years old, standing 6’2″, this father of 14 continues to push boundaries in space exploration, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and brain-computer interfaces. His companies employ hundreds of thousands of people and are genuinely transforming multiple industries.

Whether you view him as a visionary genius saving humanity or a controversial billionaire wielding too much power, one thing is certain: Elon Musk is the most fascinating and influential entrepreneur of the 21st century. As he races toward becoming the world’s first trillionaire, the next chapter of his story promises to be just as remarkable as everything that’s come before.