How Elon Musk Became the Richest Private Citizen on the Planet

TIME Magazine on Monday named Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk 2021’s ‘Person of the Year’.

This year saw Musk soar through the ranks of the world’s billionaires to reach the top as Tesla broke a whopping $1 trillion USD in market capitalization for the very first time, joining the likes of Apple and Microsoft in the uber-exclusive club of trillion-dollar companies that only has a handful of members.

In a follow-up story, TIME Magazine explores Musk’s financial journey, which began right around the turn of the century, and breaks down how 2021’s ‘Person of the Year’ built his now-$297 billion fortune.

“Musk made his money differently than most of today’s famous billionaires,” explains the publication. “Instead of one amazing idea, he had several good ones. And instead of a bunch of clever, safe investments, he made just a few spectacularly risky ones.”

All of those bets culminated in Musk becoming “the richest private citizen on the planet,” as TIME Magazine calls him. Let’s take a look at the publication’s historical breakdown of Musk’s wealth:

• Zip2 — Founded by Musk and his brother Kimbal, sold to Compaq for $307 million in 1999. Musk made $22 million from the sale.
• PayPal — Musk’s second startup, established in 1999 as X.com and sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002.
• SolarCity — A clean energy startup founded by two of Musk’s cousins, which he was heavily invested in. SolarCity was sold to Tesla for $2.6 billion, but its sale remains the subject of a shareholder lawsuit.
• SpaceX — Founded by Musk in 2002, SpaceX today dominates the U.S. commercial space transportation market, is developing a revolutionary satellite internet service with global coverage, and is worth $100 billion.
• Tesla — Founded in 2003, Tesla has heralded a global transition to electric transportation and is now worth a staggering $1.02 trillion. Tesla’s valuation dwarves that of all the veteran U.S. automakers combined, and it is where most of Musk’s wealth is tied up.
• The Boring Co. — Musk’s tunnelling venture, founded in 2016 and worth around $920 million.
• Neuralink — A neurotechnology company co-founded by Musk in 2016 that aims to produce sensors that can enable telepathic man-machine communication. Neuralink is worth upwards of $500 million.
• OpenAI — OpenAI was co-founded by Musk in 2015 with the goal of developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The company was originally established as a non-profit organization but turned for-profit in 2019. OpenAI is not publicly traded and therefore does not have a known valuation.