Elon Reeve Musk, born June 28, 1971, in South Africa, is a renowned entrepreneur and, since 2021, the world's wealthiest individual, with an estimated net worth of $500 billion by October 2025. After co-founding Zip2 and later X.com, which merged into PayPal, Musk launched the revolutionary space technology company SpaceX in 2002 and became CEO of Tesla in 2008, driving innovations in reusable rockets and electric vehicles. His diverse portfolio also includes the AI venture xAI, founded after his departure from OpenAI, and the social network X (formerly Twitter), which he acquired in 2022 and subsequently rebranded. However, Musk's outspoken support for global far-right figures and controversial statements on topics like COVID-19 misinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech, including a brief, tumultuous role as Senior Advisor in the 2025 Trump administration, have made him a highly polarizing public figure.