The meteoric rise of Elon Musk – from South Africa to the White House, we introduce you to the world’s richest man

US President-elect Donald Trump last week appointed billionaire CEO Elon Musk and Indian-American pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy to head the so-called Department of Government Effectiveness, known as DOGE “

“Together, these two outstanding Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut redundant regulations, cut wasteful spending, and reorganize federal agencies — a perfect match,” Trump said in a statement. Save America’s movement is vital.”

Musk will lead “DOGE”

Musk, known for his pioneering work in space exploration, has supported Trump, donated millions of dollars to his campaign and made public appearances with the former president. Trump has previously said he would give Musk a major role in the administration to help drive efforts to make government more efficient.

The abbreviation for the new unit, DOGE, is strikingly similar to the name of Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency promoted by Musk.

“This will send shockwaves through the entire system and anyone involved in government waste, and there are many of them!” Musk said the government’s new initiative “could be the ‘Manhattan Project’ of our time,” according to Trump’s statement. , referring to the U.S. plan to build the atomic bomb that would help end World War II.

The rise of Elon Musk – who is he?

So we take a look at Musk’s journey from his birthplace in South Africa to immigrating to the United States, starting a company, becoming the world’s richest man, and now playing a key role in the U.S. government and taking a seat in Donald Trump’s White House.

Musk rose to fame as CEO of electric car company Tesla, space exploration company SpaceX and social media platform X. He also owns the Boring Company, satellite internet provider Starlink and chip technology company Neuralink.

In addition, Musk was an early investor in ChatGPT maker OpenAI and several other Silicon Valley technology companies, such as Zip2 and X.com (which later formed PayPal).

He is the world’s richest man, worth more than $313 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI) on November 16, 2024, largely due to the value of his Tesla stock holdings. He has been ahead of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos since 2021.

Early Years in South Africa

According to Investopedia, Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, and is the eldest of three children. His father, Errol Musk, is a retired South African engineer, politician and businessman. The report added that his mother, Maye Musk, is a Canadian model and nutritionist.

After his parents divorced in 1980, Musk lived with his father in South Africa, but in later interviews he called his father a “terrible man.” He attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and graduated from Pretoria Boys’ High School. Musk said in the interview that he was a nerd, had few friends, and was often bullied.

Move to North America

A little-known fact about Musk is that he reportedly studied in Canada for a while before moving to the United States. Later, he joined the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, where he studied physics and business.

At 17, he immigrated to Canada and obtained citizenship through his mother. He attended Queen’s University in Ontario, where he met his wife Justine Wilson. The couple had six children together, including an eldest son who died after birth, and subsequently divorced in 2008. Musk and Wilson’s five surviving children include twins and triplets.

Musk later married and divorced Talulah Riley twice from 2018 to 2022, and had a romantic relationship with Canadian singer Grimes (real name Claire Elise Boucher) Claire Elise Boucher) is in a relationship and has three children. He also has twins with Neuralink employee Shivon Zilis.

Musk transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years after joining the Ontario school, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics. He also holds a second bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School.

At age 24, Musk moved to California to pursue a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University, but two days later, amid the booming internet sector, he instead headed to Silicon Valley, the report added.

company timetable

• 1995 – Founded network software company Zip2 with brother Kimbal with $15,000.
• 1999 – Zip2 is acquired by Compaq Computer Corporation for $307 million in cash and stock options worth $34 million. Musk used his shares to create financial technology company X.com. The startup merged with money transfer platform Confinity to create PayPal.

Musk said in a 2018 interview that when eBay acquired PayPal, he made $180 million from his 11.7% stake in PayPal. He added that he reinvested $100 million of PayPal earnings into SpaceX, $70 million into Tesla, and $10 million into SolarCity.

• 2002 – Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX. The company currently has several contracts with the U.S. government.
• 2004 – Musk was an early investor in Tesla, investing $6.3 million when he joined the team in 2004. SolarCity, now a subsidiary of Tesla, makes rechargeable solar cells and other solar power equipment.
• 2022 – Musk acquires microblogging site Twitter for $46 billion and renames it X. Even before acquiring the social media platform, Musk disclosed a 9.2% stake in March 2022.
• 2024/25 – Co-Director of the U.S. Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) under the second administration of Donald Trump (Trump 2.0).