Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in space company SpaceX and automotive company Tesla, Inc. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp., formerly Twitter, and his role in the founding of The Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink and OpenAI. He is one of the wealthiest people in the world; as of July 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$221 billion.

Elon Musk’s ancestry includes British and Pennsylvania Dutch origins. His mother, Maye Musk, originated from Saskatchewan, Canada, and was brought up in South Africa where she worked as a model and dietitian. Errol Musk, his dad, is a South African engineer who also works as a pilot, sailor, consultant, emerald dealer, and property developer, and held ownership in a rental lodge at the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. Elon has a younger brother named Kimbal and a younger sister named Tosca. Elon has four half-siblings on his father's side. Elon's family was affluent during his youth. Although Musk and Errol had claimed Errol was a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine, Errol later clarified that he had actually agreed to receive "a share of the emeralds from three smaller mines." Errol became a member of the Pretoria City Council representing the anti-apartheid Progressive Party and mentioned that his children also opposed apartheid like their father.

After his parents divorced in 1980, Elon chose to live primarily with his father. Elon later regretted his decision and became estranged from his father.

Musk went to Waterkloof House Preparatory School, followed by Bryanston High School, and then Pretoria Boys High School, where he completed his studies. Musk was a decent student, scoring a 61 in Afrikaans and a B on his senior math certification, but he was not outstanding. Musk landed in Canada in June 1989, met up with a distant relative in Saskatchewan, and took up various jobs such as working on a farm and at a lumber mill. In the year 1990, he enrolled at Queen's University located in Kingston, Ontario. After two years, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school in Philadelphia, and graduated with two degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in physics and a Bachelor of Science in economics from the university's Wharton School. Even though Musk claims he received the degrees in 1995, the University of Pennsylvania did not officially grant them until 1997. According to reports, he held big house parties with tickets to cover tuition costs and developed a business proposal for an e-book scanning service like Google Books.

In the year 1995, Musk, along with his brother Kimbal and Greg Kouri, established Global Link Information Network, which was eventually rebranded as Zip2. The business was launched using $28,000 contributed by Errol Musk, which is worth $56,000 in 2023. The company created an online urban directory with maps, directions, and business listings, and distributed it to newspapers. In February 1999, Compaq bought Zip2 for $307 million in cash, with Musk getting $22 million for his 7% stake.

In March of 1999, Musk partnered to create X.com, an internet financial services and email payment platform, using $12 million from the proceeds of the Compaq purchase. X.com became one of the pioneer online banks with federal insurance, attracting over 200,000 customers within its first few months of launch. In 2002, eBay purchased PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock, with Musk, who held 11.72% of PayPal shares, getting $175.8 million. In 2017, over 15 years later, Musk bought the X.com domain from PayPal for its emotional significance. Musk talked about a plan in 2022 to develop "X, the all-in-one app".

Using his own $100 million, Musk established SpaceX in May 2002 and assumed the roles of CEO and Chief Engineer. In 2008, SpaceX achieved the launch of Falcon 1 into orbit. In the same year, SpaceX was awarded a $1.6 billion contract by NASA for 12 missions to the ISS using the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, taking over from the retired Space Shuttle in 2011. In 2012, the Dragon spacecraft successfully linked up with the ISS, marking a historic moment for commercial space travel.

In July 2003, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Inc., initially known as Tesla Motors. Both men were actively involved in the company's initial growth before Musk joined. Musk headed the initial round of funding in February 2004, injecting $6.35 million, taking over as the primary owner, and assuming the role of chairman on Tesla's board of directors. Musk played a key role at the company, managing Roadster product design, but was not heavily involved in daily business operations

By 2019, Musk had been the CEO of any automotive manufacturer worldwide for the longest period of time. In the year 2021, Musk formally switched his role to "Technoking" but still held the CEO position. In October 2021, Tesla's market value reached $1 trillion, making it the sixth U.S. company ever to achieve this milestone.

Musk began buying Twitter stocks in January 2022, eventually owning 9.2% by April, becoming the biggest investor. Right after the takeover, Musk dismissed a number of high-ranking Twitter executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, and assumed the role of CEO himself.

Musk is frequently characterized as a micromanager and has referred to himself as a "nano-manager". His approach has been described by The New York Times as absolutist.

Ever since Musk became a member of Twitter (which is now called X) in 2009, he has regularly used the platform and currently has more than 163 million followers as of November 2023. He shares memes, advertises business ventures, and discusses current political and cultural topics. The New York Times characterizes his impact on global affairs as "disordered", while detractors of Musk contend that there is a blending of his views and his commercial concerns.