Elon Musk recently announced that his latest startup, xAI, will focus on artificial intelligence. According to the company’s website, xAI aims to “understand the true nature of the universe.” The xAI team will be led by Musk and others who have previously worked with OpenAI, DeepMind, Google Research, Microsoft Research and Tesla.
Musk’s new AI venture is the latest in a list of companies he’s founded and leads, including Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company.
As of July 2023, Musk is the one the richest man in the worldwith a net worth of $254 billion. Here’s how the Tesla CEO and Twitter owner made his billions.
Key things
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the richest person in the world as of July 2023 with a net worth of $254 billion.
- This month, Musk announced his latest startup xAI, a company that will focus on artificial intelligence.
- Musk has a 13% ownership stake in Tesla and a 79% stake in Twitter.
Tesla
Tesla is the largest car manufacturer in the world by market value. The company manufactures and designs fully electric vehicles (EVs) and energy generation and storage systems. Its cars include sedans and compact and mid-size SUVs.
Tesla (TSLA) was founded in 2003 as Tesla Motors by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Musk invested in the company and served on the board since 2004, becoming CEO in 2008.
Musk was allowed to claim the title of co-founder thanks to an out-of-court settlement. Tesla entered the stock exchange in an initial public offering (IPO) on June 29, 2010. In 2021, Tesla moved its headquarters from its native Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas.
In July 2023, Tesla unveiled its first Cybertruck built in its Texas factory, almost two years behind original schedule.
Musk has a 13% ownership stake in Tesla worth $108 billion. In 2022, Tesla’s total sales were $81.46 billion.
SpaceX
Musk is also the co-founder and CEO of SpaceX, a rocket company that counts NASA among its clients and helps supply the space station.
SpaceX is worth $137 billion as of January 2023 and raised $2.2 billion in 2022, making it the nation’s most valuable private company. Musk owns 42% of SpaceX, which launched its 200th rocket in January and has more than 1 million subscribers to its Starlink internet service.
In April 2022 Musk bought Twitter for $44 million after threatening a hostile takeover. The deal was finalized in October 2022 after Twitter sued Musk for trying to back out of the deal.
His takeover was controversial, as he fired half the company’s staff and added a paid subscription service ($8 a month) for anyone who wanted to verify their account. Musk owns about 79% of Twitter. The company is valued at approximately $20 billion as of March 2023.
The Boring Company
Musk is also the founder of The Boring Company, a tunneling company that aims to “solve traffic” by building freight tunnels. The company raised $675 million in April 2022, valued at $5.7 billion, according to Forbes.
Neuralink
Musk also co-founded a company called Neuralink, which designed a “brain-computer interface,” a chip that can be implanted in the brain. Neuralink is worth about $5 billion, according to the report Reuters.
