Love him or hate him, Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves no one indifferent. What’s indisputable is that Musk has broken the stereotype of the inaccessible and discreet billionaire, establishing himself as a prominent player in geopolitics and global economic interests.
After briefly ceding the title of the world’s richest person to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Musk regained the top spot, with his fortune reaching $268 billion, according to Forbes.
A Billionaire Without Yachts and Mansions
Musk is an unconventional billionaire. He doesn’t flaunt large mansions or luxury yachts. Early in his career, the tech mogul owned several homes in prime Los Angeles neighborhoods. He bought Gene Wilder’s house to preserve its legacy and later sold it to the actor’s nephew, despite having to foreclose due to a default.
However, the billionaire decided to divest all his properties and now lives in a small, 376-square-foot prefabricated module on the grounds of SpaceX. There’s no record of whether the houses where his children live are his property, but Musk doesn’t reside in them. As he explained in a TED Talk, he stays in his friends’ mansions when traveling to other cities.
He’s also not a fan of the sea, so whenever he finds himself on a yacht, it's been on those owned by other millionaires—he doesn’t own one himself.
The Tesla CEO has two private planes that he uses to travel between Texas and San Francisco. They’re registered to Falcon Landing LLC, which is linked to Musk’s business network.
Tesla is Still His Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs
While Musk wasn’t the founder of Tesla (despite his insistence on being recognized as such), the company today wouldn’t exist without his initial investment of $6.5 million. In fact, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, the true founders, hadn’t even considered making electric cars at the time. The first vehicle would be the Roadster, which arrived two years later.
Musk has been the company’s top executive and one of its largest shareholders since 2008. For years, the South African-born billionaire has controlled between 12% and 15% of the company’s shares.
However, that percentage changed following the controversial approval of his court-challenged bonus, which was ratified by shareholders in a close vote. Since then, and according to Tesla’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk’s consolidated control of the company’s shares has risen to 20.5%. This increase has boosted his fortune, although his stock price has experienced ups and downs.
As of August 2024, Tesla reached a market capitalization of $764.64 billion, indicating that approximately 63% of Musk’s fortune comes from this company.
Space: Musk’s Fastest-Growing Business
In 2002, with millions from the sale of PayPal, Musk founded a small company dedicated to his childhood dream: building rockets to reach Mars. His dream is becoming a reality, and the company is steadily gaining market share in the space race.
Musk is currently the CEO of SpaceX. The company isn’t publicly traded, so it’s not required to disclose its financial results. However, Bloomberg reported a tender offer for SpaceX in June 2024 that valued the company at about $210 billion. This new offer far exceeded the $180 billion valuation from late 2023, undoubtedly boosted by the strong results of recent rocket launches.
According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, Musk owns about 42% of SpaceX’s capital (though he doesn’t own shares, as they’re not publicly traded). If the valuation is generous, that would add approximately $88.2 billion to his net worth.
One of the big surprises for Musk and SpaceX has been Starlink. What started as a small project within SpaceX—almost a test—has evolved into a successful venture, generating about $6.6 billion in profits. The billionaire retains control of 54% of Starlink, making it a new source of income for him.
X: His Biggest Headache
X has undoubtedly been Musk’s most controversial whim and likely his least profitable investment.
He purchased the social media platform for $44 billion. After a chaotic year of operational changes, various conflicts with advertisers and investors, and even legal disputes with entire countries, the company’s primary investor estimated that X has lost 71.5% of its initial value.
Again, X isn’t required to publish its financial statements because it’s not a public company. Musk is estimated to own about 79% of the platform, contributing just over $1 billion to his net worth (not counting the significant debt it's left in his bank account).
Because the billionaire uses the platform intensively, X serves more as a tool of influence for him than as an asset aimed at economic profitability.
Neuralink: The Bet on the Future
Neuralink is perhaps the most innovative startup in Musk’s portfolio due to its field of operation. The billionaire co-founded the company in 2016 and remains a majority investor. Its goal is to develop brain-computer interfaces through brain implants, which have shown promising results.
Given that it relies on constant funding rounds, the company frequently faces varying estimates of its value. In 2022, its value was around $2 billion. According to Reuters, following the latest round of investment, that valuation has tripled to more than $7 billion. However, a more conservative estimate places it at $5 billion.
Musk’s Independent Projects
In addition to the major companies he has bought, invested in, or founded, Musk has developed extensions of these companies through independent projects. These include SolarCity, which Musk founded with his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, to install solar panels and batteries. Tesla eventually took control of SolarCity, making it a subsidiary.
The Boring Company and xAI are smaller projects structured as “instrument” service providers for Musk’s other companies, though they don’t yet generate significant income. The Boring Company is responsible for tunneling to reduce traffic for The Loop project in Dubai. Its primary assets are its three drilling machines: Godot, Line-storm, and Prufrock.
Meanwhile, xAI develops alternative AI models to those of OpenAI, which are intended to serve as integration tools for X, Tesla, SpaceX, and other companies in Musk’s business network.
The billionaire also has a private security company, which is listed in Tesla’s earnings report as a service provider, with annual fees totaling $2.4 million. However, little is known about it.
Image | The Royal Society edited by Xataka On
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