– Elon Musk is working to revolutionize transportation both on Earth, through electric car maker Tesla -- and in space, via rocket producer SpaceX.
Musk was accepted to a graduate program at Stanford, but deferred attendance to launch his first business, software company Zip2.
– He owns 21% of Tesla but has pledged more than half his stake as collateral for loans; Forbes has discounted his stake to take the loans into account.
– SpaceX, Musk's rocket company, is valued at $74 billion after a funding round in February 2021.
– Within weeks of reporting a 9.1% Twitter stake in early April 2022, Musk declined a board seat and proposed a $43 billion hostile takeover of the company.
He grew up in South Africa, then immigrated to Canada at age 17. He landed in the U.S. as a transfer student to the University of Pennsylvania.