Editing Elon Musk (section)

== Business career ==

=== Early ventures ===
In 1995, Musk co-founded Zip2, an online city guide software company, with his brother Kimbal. Compaq acquired Zip2 in 1999 for US$307 million, netting Musk approximately $22 million.

Later in 1999, Musk founded X.com, an online financial services and email payment company. In 2000, X.com merged with Confinity to form PayPal. eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 for US$1.5 billion in stock, from which Musk received about $176 million after taxes.

=== SpaceX ===
Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX developed the Falcon family of rockets and the Dragon spacecraft. Key achievements include:
* First privately funded spacecraft to reach orbit (Falcon 1, 2008)
* First reuse of orbital-class rockets (Falcon 9)
* First private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (Dragon, 2012)
* Development of Starship, intended for Mars missions
* Starlink satellite internet constellation

=== Tesla ===
Musk joined Tesla in 2004 as chairman and lead investor. He became CEO in 2008. Under his leadership, Tesla became the world's most valuable automaker for periods, pioneering mass-market electric vehicles (Model S, 3, Y, X, Cybertruck) and advancing autonomous driving technology (Full Self-Driving) and energy storage (Megapack, Powerwall). Tesla also produces the Optimus humanoid robot.

=== X (formerly Twitter) ===
In 2022, Musk acquired Twitter for US$44 billion and rebranded it as X in 2023, with the vision of creating an "everything app." Changes included reduced content moderation, introduction of paid verification (X Premium), and integration with Grok.

=== xAI ===
Musk founded xAI in 2023 with the mission "to understand the true nature of the universe." The company developed the Grok family of AI models and integrated with X. In 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI in a major merger.<grok-card data-id="ac749f" data-type="citation_card" data-plain-type="render_inline_citation" ></grok-card>

=== Other ventures ===
* '''Neuralink''' (2016): Develops brain-computer interfaces.
* '''The Boring Company''' (2016): Focuses on underground tunneling and infrastructure.
* Musk briefly co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left the board in 2018.

In 2025, Musk co-led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President Donald Trump's second administration before stepping down in May 2025.