You can hate him or love him, but Elon Musk leaves no one indifferent. What is indisputable is that Elon Musk has gone beyond the cliché of inaccessible and discreet millionaires to become an important player on the scene of geopolitics and global economic interests.
After a brief period in which he handed over the mantle of the world’s richest person to luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, Elon Musk has regained it with even more impetus, catapulting his fortune to the heights. 244.7 billion dollarsaccording to the list of millionaires in real time From Forbes.
A millionaire without yachts or villas
There is no denying that Elon Musk is an unconventional millionaire. It doesn’t flaunt large villas or luxury yachts. Early in his career, the tech mogul owned several homes in prime areas of Los Angeles. Indeed, bought Gene Wilder’s house only for the sake of maintaining his inheritance and sold it to a nephew of the actor, although due to non-payment he was forced to foreclose on the mortgage.
However, the millionaire decided to get rid of all of them and go live in rent to a small prefabricated module of just 35 m2 located within the SpaceX area. There is no record that the houses where his children live are owned by him, but Elon Musk does not live there. When he travels to other cities, he stays at his friends’ mansions, just like explain in a TED talk.
Elon Musk has two private planes with which he travels between Texas and San Francisco registered to Falcon Landing LLC linked to the tycoon’s business network.
Tesla continues to be his golden goose
If it is true that, in the strict sense of the term, Elon Musk was not the founder of Tesla (no matter how much he insists on being recognized), the current Tesla wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the initial $6.5 million boost the millionaire brought to the table. In fact, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, the real founders, had not even considered the production of electric cars. The first would be the Roadster that arrived two years later.
Be that as it may, since 2008 Elon Musk has held the position of maximum responsibility at the helm of the company and is one of its main shareholders. For years, the South African-born billionaire has controlled between 12% and 15% of the company’s shares.
However, this percentage changed following the disputed approval of its salary bonus, which was challenged by the courts and later ratified in a close vote by shareholders. Since then, and in accordance with the reports sent by Tesla According to the Securities Commission, Elon Musk would control 20.5% of Tesla’s shares once consolidated, which has caused his fortune to skyrocket, although not without ups and downs due to his share price.
In August 2024 Tesla reached a capitalization of 764.64 billion dollars, which tells us that approximately 63% of Elon Musk’s wealth comes from Tesla.
Space: Elon’s business that has grown the most
In 2002, Elon Musk, with his pockets full of millions from the sale of PayPal, founded a small company that would dedicate himself to his childhood dream: building rockets to reach Mars. Their dream is coming true and the company is only gaining market share in the space race.
Currently, Musk is the CEO of SpaceX. The company is not listed on the stock exchange, so it is not obliged to make its results public. However, Bloomberg he echoed in June 2024 of a takeover bid (OPA) on SpaceX, which valued the company at approximately $210 billion. The new offer far exceeded the 180,000 million of a takeover bid launched at the end of 2023, undoubtedly driven by the good results of the latest launches of its rockets.
Second an investigation From THE Wall Street JournalElon Musk owns about 42% stake in SpaceX (not its shares, since it is not publicly traded). This, being generous with the takeover bid valuation, would add 88,200 million more to his assets.
One of the big surprises for Elon Musk and SpaceX was Starlink. It started as a small project within SpaceX, almost a test, which has turned out to be a successful business that is bringing the company about $6.6 billion in profits. Elon Musk keeps 54% of the company under his control, so the company has become a new source of income for the millionaire.
X: Your biggest headache
Without a doubt, X was the millionaire’s most controversial whim and, in all likelihood, his least profitable investment
Musk bought the social network for $44 billion. After a chaotic year full of changes in the operation of X, various conflicts with advertisers and investors, and even legal disputes with countries, the company’s main investor estimated that
Again, X is not obliged to make its accounts public because it is not an affiliated company. Elon Musk is estimated to own about 79% of the social network
Due to the millionaire’s intensive use of the social network, X is more of a tool of influence for Musk than a resource with which to seek economic profitability.
Neuralink, the bet for the future
Neuralink is probably the most innovative startup in Elon Musk’s portfolio, due to the field in which it operates. The company was co-founded in 2016 by Elon Musk, who remains a majority investor. Their goal: to develop brain-computer interfaces through brain implants that are achieving good results.
Having to rely on ongoing financing, the company faces constant estimates of its value. In 2022, its value was pegged at around $2 billion. After the latest round of investments, this valuation has tripled, reaching over 7,000 million, according to informed Reutersalthough a more conservative valuation would have lowered it to 5,000 million.
Musk’s corporate “satellites”.
In addition to the large companies he has bought, invested in, or founded over the course of his career, Musk has created extensions of each of them in the form of independent projects. SolarCity fits into that context, which Musk founded with his two cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive with the aim of installing solar panels and batteries. Over time, Tesla took control of the company, remaining a subsidiary.
The Boring Company or xAi are smaller projects structured as service delivery “tools” for the rest of Elon Musk’s companies, although they do not currently represent a large source of money for Elon Musk. The Boring Company is contracted to build the traffic tunnels for The Loop. Its biggest asset is its three rigs: Godot, Line-storm and Prufrock.
For its part, xAi is in charge of developing alternative artificial intelligence models to OpenAI, which will then serve as the basis for integrations into X, Tesla, SpaceX and the rest of the companies in the tycoon’s orbit.
Likewise, Elon Musk has his own private security company, about which nothing is known publicly, but which appears as a service provider in Tesla’s earnings report, which pays him a bill of 2.4 million per year.
Logy/neuralink-raises-virtually-280m-funding-round-2023-07-19/”>Reuters. The innovative nature of Neuralink has attracted significant interest, and its advancements put Elon Musk at the forefront of neurotechnology.
Conclusion
Elon Musk’s approach to wealth and investment is unconventional, marked by his minimalistic lifestyle despite his status as one of the richest individuals in the world. His fortunes are significantly tied to Tesla and SpaceX, where he has made substantial impacts in electric vehicles and space exploration. While some of his ventures, like X, may not yet yield significant profits, others, such as Starlink and Neuralink, showcase his ambition to push technological boundaries. As he continues to innovate and expand his business empire, Musk remains a central figure in shaping the future of technology and commerce.
