Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla, and the co-founder of other major companies, including SpaceX, OpenAI, Neuralink, SolarCity, and The Boring Company.
He was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and founded his first startup in the 1990s.
Musk is a polarizing figure who has incited lawsuits and SEC investigations.
Musk's parents divorced when he was nine, and he chose to live with his father, who he later had a troubled relationship with.
Musk spent much of his childhood reading and coding late into the night, excelling in both areas.
After studying physics and economics at the University of Pennsylvania, Musk started his career in the late 1990s, co-founding Zip2 and then X.com, which would eventually become PayPal.
After PayPal was sold, Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. He also became an early investor in Tesla, which he later joined as CEO in 2008, rescuing the company from financial difficulties.
Musk has since become one of the most well-known entrepreneurs in tech, with a net worth that has at times surpassed $200 billion.
He has also been involved in initiatives to further space exploration, artificial intelligence, and alternative energy.
More recently, Musk has been focused on Tesla's autonomous vehicle operations and the development of SpaceX's Starship rocket, which has the potential to carry passengers to Mars.