Elon Musk is a name now many people know. For what? Tesla? Paypal? Trump? Innovation? If there is one guy in the world that gets more attention and excitement it is Elon Musk.
Musk is the father of thirteen children. Musk is a risk taker. Clearly, Elon Musk has a unique vision of full freedom and independence. Musk was born to a wealthy family with an artistic mother. This may be an odd fact that may surprise people about Elon Musk and his personality and upbringing overall.
Musk is involved with every sector of society from tech to politics now. He is everywhere especially in terms of the new administration of the Trump presidency as well. Musk is an enigma.
From Musk’s Zip2 venture to Zip2 to buying Twitter, Musk was an innovator and big time presence on American and worldwide media and tech. Elon Musk co-founded X.com in 1999, which later became PayPal after merging with Confinity.
Musk does not care about public opinion as he launches various projects, ideas and more to improve the future of humanity. Musk wants to change the world. Early on, Musk utilized Paypal to experience and grew rapidly into innovative investments globally.
Learn more about Elon Musk and his business and life stories below!
1. Elon Musk is not originally from the USA but South Africa
Many people may think that Elon Musk is American or from the United States. However, this is not the case at all. However, even though Elon Musk is involved with the current American president, Donald Trump, he was born outside the United States.
In fact, Musk was born in South Africa in 1971. Many may not realize that Musk was born to a wealthy family from South Africa. Musk’s family was from Pretoria, South Africa. However, his journey did not stop there because Musk immigrated to Canada.
Musk lived in Canada until age 17. Musk currently has South African, Canadian, and U.S. citizenship. Elon Musk is not a natural-born American citizen, so there are limitations in what he can do exactly. For example, Musk is ineligible to run for U.S. president, as the Constitution requires natural American citizenship for presidential candidates to be overall. Elon Musk moved to California in 1995 to be in school, but this was a process in which his residence and citizenship would change. When Musk attended Stanford University it was where he was aiming to be but he eventually dropped out. Musk while being involved and founding X.com then PayPal was working out his residence and legality in the USA. It was in 2002 when Musk acquired U.S. citizenship finally.
2. Elon Musk Co-founded and established tech giant Paypal
People may know Twitter, now called X and Tesla, but what about Paypal? Elon Musk was very instrumental in helping to create PayPal. This is an important company because PayPal is an online payment platform. This innovative company permitted users to send and receive money securely. Essentially, Musk made purchases, and managed transactions with less hassle online. Paypal made it easy to connect to bank accounts, credit cards, debit cards, and more.
Paypal grew out of one of Musk’s early projects that was part of an online banking venture of his called X.com. Musk early on was confident that X.com could be a multi-billion-dollar operation and powerhouse.
Musk had the foresight to look ahead and be someone who could realize ideas and make them grow. Eventually, Musk was a co-founder and backer of one of the world’s most important financial apps, which is Paypal.
Musk was right and Paypak became huge and still ever relevant in 2025. Paypal has been involved with merchant and personal online banking, payments and more since the 1990s. But, Musk would sell his stake in PayPal and be someone who invests in space exploration and electric cars.
Currently, PayPal has a market cap of over $90 billion. Paypal is still popular despite increased competition and increasing innovation in this field of payment platforms.
3. Elon Musk is the Richest person in the world
Musk is the wealthiest person in the world; as of February 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth to be at $384 billion in total. This is something that separates Musk from any other business person in the USA or planet. His wealth and sense of investments is unique and unparalleled.
Musk’s portfolio of companies including electric car manufacturer Tesla and especially rocket producer SpaceX makes him more than viable. As well, Musk has the tunnelling project The Boring Company.
Musk’s alliance and work with American president Trump has made and grown his businesses to the forefront. His wealth and profile grows overall.
How does Elon Musk make his money? Well, Musk is the world’s richest person because of shares of his publicly traded electric vehicle company, Tesla. Tesla grew after Donald Trump won the US election.
In terms of competition, Musk's net worth is currently more than $80 billion richer than the next contender; Oracle chairman Larry Ellison who is valued at $235 billion
4. Elon Musk did not graduate from university as he dropped out
Not many would know that Musk is a drop out. This type of reputation does not seem related to someone as successful as Musk. However, it is Musk who only stayed at Stanford University for two days. The story goes that Musk dropped out very early after starting school.
Musk’s original goal in terms of his education was to earn a doctorate in physics. But, Muskhe left school to start his first company and become a business investor and creator. His first company, Zip2, was started with his brother Kimbal.
Musk dropped out of Stanford because he thought the internet had more potential to change the world than his research and education in physics. However, Elon’s transition out of education certainly didn’t prevent Musk as a business investor from acquiring disruptive technologies. Musk instead of educating himself was able to become the richest man in the world with his unique approach and imagination.
5. Elon Musk and Donald Trump work together for the American Presidency
The relationship between Trump and Elon Musk goes back a long way. It began to develop when Musk agreed to serve on business councils for Donald Trump. Back in 2017, it was clear that Elon Musk was attracted to Trump as a president and influence on society.
Today in 2025, Musk is part of the new Department of Government Efficiency. In the United States, President Donald Trump started a special commission that was responsible for cutting federal spending.
Today, Elon Musk is very involved with Trump and also included in Trump’s cabinet of advisors. Eventually, it became clear there was a work partnership. Musk had become Trump’s biggest financial backer overall. It is Musk who gave $288 million to Trump’s 2024 presidential bid. Moreover, Musk is one of Trump’s closest advisers. Clearly, Trump and Musk are more intertwined than ever.
Also, Elon Musk was picked by Trump to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency. This department of efficiency is called DOGE, which is named after years of hyping up cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
6. Elon Musk created Futuristic company SpaceX and Tesla
Elon Musk is someone who thinks about the future. Musk has often believed that for life to survive, humanity has to be a place with multi planet species. Musk wants to help evolve and change humanity and with SpaceX and Tesla, he did overall.
Musk started SpaceX in 2002, and the company has worked on advancements in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles for a variety of uses, human spaceflight and specifically satellite constellation technology like that you see with Starlink. Musk was thinking ahead and with SpaceX decided to make more affordable rockets. Musk produced the Falcon 1 and 9, which were designed to cost much less than competing rockets in the marketplace.
Also, Musk created Tesla, an auto manufacturer. However, Elon Musk as the CEO and product architect of Tesla, helped to launch and create a leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer. Electric cars have been heralded as the future and Elon Musk has been vocal about this for innovation.
7. Elon’s Musk mother was a Fashion Model and posed nude
Elon Musk’s mom, Maye Musk, is a model. This may not be a fact that is commonly attributed to Musk, but his mother was influential on Musk.
Maye has recently revived her modeling career, but it is less active that she was initially.. Elon’s mother is a registered dietician and author. All in all, Musk’s Mother modelling career meant she was working and based in Canada and the United States.
Interestingly enough, it was Musk’s mother that appeared on boxes of Special K cereal. As well, even in Revlon ads! This may have been an influence on Elon Musk because he is a fan of being involved in TV and entertainment appearances. Moreover, Musk’s mother was even in a Beyoncé video.
What is more surprising is that Elon Musk’s mother even appeared nude on both the cover of Time magazine] and the cover of New York magazine.
Elon Musk’s mother did not stop there as it was In 2022, at age 74, that Maye Musk made a record. His mother was the oldest Sports Illustrated swimsuit model ever in history.
8. Elon Musk sold his first company for Millions in profit
Musk early on became quite concerned about making money and making big deals. How? It was Musk who sold his first company for millions of dollars and established a pattern for creating wealth.
Elon Musk and his brother established and founded a company called Zip2, which is an online business directory. This company was seen as an online alternative to the classic American directory called the “Yellow pages.” Musk had his eye on business maneuvers at an early age and was able to sell this company for over $300 million in 1999. Musk sold this company to Compaq Computer Corporation.
The irony is that Musk seemed to headed to a more challenging future when he left Stanford
However, Musk’s business acumen was beginning to develop. His first company, Zip2, was a big success for a young person netting $300 million! This was Musk’s first big move on his journey toward becoming the wealthiest person on earth. Musk eventually started to know how to deal with more and more business deals to increase his empire.
9. Elon Musk was quiet as a child and bullied
Not many may realize that the world’s richest person would have been bullied as a child, but that is the case. Bullying is a big problem today as it was in the past.
As a child, Musk was more withdrawn and shy. Musk was so quiet and silent as a child that his parents thought he might have been deaf. Though as the years go by, Musk proved to be more than expressive. As a child, Musk is reportedly to have read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica at 9 years old. Moreover, Musk was self taught about a subject and he taught himself to write computer code. By this point, Musk was only 12.Thereafter, Musk was to be creative and, but he had problems with other students.
It would come to light that Musk was bullied as a kid. In his childhood at school, Musk was the youngest and smallest boy in his class. This caused problems because it meant he was often bullied. One time it was so bad for Musk being bullied, because he was hospitalized. It was revealed that a group of boys pushed Musk down a flight of stairs. In another situation, Musk was nearly beaten to death, so abuse and trauma existed from other students who bullied him.
10. Elon Musk has been accused of being the unofficial leader and influencer of the USA under Trump
There are many times that Elon Musk gets involved with Trump, but this time around it is different. Many question the power and nature of the relationship between Musk and Trump, and exactly who runs the show and leads?
Musk has a role at the White House of the American presidency. Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as (DOGE). Musk’s influence and power has created concern and questions about the scale of his authority. Some Americans claim there could be warnings of a constitutional crisis, or even a coup similar to January 6 several years ago.
Today, in 2025, Elon Musk has increased his power and influence on government spending and investment. Being a business person and investor, Musk has approached the government like a business. He wants to bring money to the USA and make it more like a well run business overall.
Musk, as a tech billionaire and investor, has shook up and uprooted the federal bureaucracy in the first weeks since American President Donald Trump took office.
