Borned in Pretotia, moved to Canada and then United States, where he studied economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. Musk showed his passion and talent for entrepreneurship in his early childhood when he made his first video game named as Blastar the age of just 12 and sold it for $500. He grown with an entreprenur mindset and now all now are witnessing how much Elon Musk is involved in, you know, all sorts of companies. Sure, most folks think of Tesla and SpaceX first, but there’s way more to the story. From artificial intelligence to neuroscience, he’s had a hand in launching so many projects. His drive is what’s really pushed him up to being one of the wealthiest guys on the planet. Just think about it—his net worth is $259 billion (as of October 10). Can you even imagine what that translates to per second? Wild, right? Anyway, I’ll walk through not just the companies Musk runs, but also those he used to be involved with. Stick around, this guide covers every venture that’s turned him from a big thinker into a name everyone knows.
Companies Own by Elon Musk: A Comprehensive List!
Elon Musk’s business journey is a remarkable story of innovation and entrepreneurship. He has founded, led, and invested in multiple companies. Musk has become a key figure in electric vehicles, space exploration, and clean energy industries.
1. X (Formerly Twitter)
The billionaire’s recent venture is X (Formerly Twitter) which he bought in 2022 for $44 billion with original proposed price of $54.20 per share. Musk became the majority shareholder of Twitter in April 2022 owning up to 9.2% of the company, and offered to buy. The acquisition concluded in October 2022, with Musk becoming Twitter’s new owner and CEO.
In addition to these ventures, Elon Musk has made significant investments in other companies, including Neuralink, which is focused on developing technology to merge the human brain with artificial intelligence.
2. xAI
In July last year, I saw Musk tweet about something exciting—a new AI company called xAI. The aim? To grasp the universe’s true nature, which sounds pretty ambitious, right? Some of the folks on the team used to work at big names like Google Research, DeepMind, and Microsoft Research.
Their website claims that while xAI isn’t part of X Corp, it’ll closely collaborate with Twitter and Tesla to achieve its goals. I think Musk wants to gear this company up to take on the likes of ChatGPT and other chatbot giants. Musk’s company eyes new funding of round $40 billion. This funding could increase it’s value to $16 billion dollars, as it was lastly valued at $24 billion when xAi raised $6 billion in spring.
3. Neuralink Corporation
I find it fascinating that Musk is behind Neuralink Corporation, a company that’s all about neurotechnology. They’re working on developing these brain-machine interfaces that can actually be implanted in our heads! Imagine, the idea is to create brain implants that not only link up with our phones and computers but also help people with paralysis regain their freedom and independence.
Since the company started, they’ve brought on some pretty impressive neuroscientists, raking in millions from investors. Back in 2019, they introduced this sewing machine-like device meant to put tiny threads into human brains.
By May 2023, the U.S. gave them the green light to test on people. At first, they’re aiming to tackle some big brain problems with their tech, but long-term? They’ve got even bigger goals—merging humans with machines. Seems like a plot point from a science fiction novel.
4. OpenAI
Almost everybody’s heard of OpenAI, right? It’s the company that made ChatGPT, the famous AI bot. Back in 2015, a group of bright minds, including Elon Musk, got together and founded OpenAI. Now, they’ve got both a non-profit arm and a for-profit one, making it kinda unique. Their mission? To bring a whole new wave of AI, mainly using something called “large language models.”
One of their first big things was the “OpenAI Gym,” which is like a playground for people who want to study reinforcement learning. However, Elon Musk parted ways in 2018. He alleged a potential conflict of interest.
Musk pledged $1 billion of funding to OpenAI, but failed and ended up by giving only $100 million. After He’s still putting money into it, though. His latest thing, xAI, shows he’s still into this AI stuff. OpenAI? They’re doing fine without him on the board, and they’ve teamed up with Microsoft in a huge billion-dollar deal.
5. Zip2
In 1995, Elon Musk co-founded an online business directory, Zip2, that provided maps and business information to newspapers. He sold it to Compaq Computer Corporation in February 1999 for $307 million. Musk himself earned around $22 million from his 7% shares.
6. PayPal:
Following the sale of Zip2, Musk co-founded X.com (now PayPal) in March 1999, transforming online payment transactions. In 2002, it was acquired by eBay for a $1.5 billion deal. Musk held a share of around 11.7% in the company, which earned him over $150 million following the sale. He used this amount to start SpaceX and fund Tesla.
7. SpaceX
Later, in 2002, Elon Musk established SpaceX, intending to reduce the cost of space travel. It holds the achievement of being the first privately funded spacecraft to reach orbit. SpaceX works with NASA to supply their flagship Falcon9 rockets to the International Space Station (ISS).
8. SolarCity
SolarCity (now operating as Tesla Energy) works on installing solar panels, powering residential and commercial buildings. In 2006, Musk’s causins Lyndon and Peter Rive founded it, however, the funds were provided by the Musk himself. Solar city was the 2nd largest solar power company in the United States by 2013. Later in 2016 it was acquired by Tesla for $2 billion and now works as a subsidiary of Tesla.
9. Tesla
In February 2004, Elon Musk became the largest shareholder in Tesla with about $6.5 million investment. He assumed the role of the CEO in 2008 after financial crises when Eberhard (the actual founder of Tesla) was ousted from the firm; promoting sustainable solutions in the automotive industry. However, after the lawsuit settlement in 2009 with Edenhard, he became the co-founder. The company sold over 2,500 Roadsters just after Musk took over. He now owns 13% shares in the company and still serves as the CEO and has overseen several innovative products.
10. The Boring Company
The Boring Company is a startup established in 2017 that aims to alleviate traffic congestion on roads. The company that Musk serves as the CEO builds underground tunnels for transportation. In April 2022, it was estimated that it’s valued at $5.675 billion after raising round of $675 million.
Understanding Elon Musk’s Net Worth
According to sources, Bernard Arnault had dethroned Elon Musk to second spot in World’s Richest Billionaires list with a net worth of $198.3 B (last year), owing to his stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X (Formerly Twitter). However, he retained the first spot in that list after some time.
Musk is now the largest shareholder of Tesla with a 20.5% stake valued at almost $120B. Similarly, Musk does not own the entire SpaceX as well. He has the largest share of 42% in the company, with 79% voting power. It means that he has the power to take a loan from the company. And around the time of acquiring Twitter (now X), he took that opportunity. He withdrew the loan of almost $1 billion from SpaceX. Currently, the valuation of the company has shot up to $150 billion.
Moreover, the billionaire bought Twitter for $44 billion and now also owns 79% of its stocks. Although Twitter shares have fluctuated post-acquisition, the company remains a valuable contributor to Musk’s overall network. Though the billionaire has pledged most of his holdings as collateral, his diverse investments and entrepreneurial endeavors have made him one of the wealthiest people.
