Elon Musk is known to be the richest man and is also well-known for being the CEO of many companies like Tesla and SpaceEx. But, have you ever thought about how many kids he has? Read this article to know everything you need to know about Elon Musk, his personal life, and his business.
Entrepreneur and investor Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971. He founded The Boring Company, is the CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, an angel investor in Tesla, Inc., the CEO and chief product architect, and a co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI. According to both the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes’ real-time billionaires’ list, Musk is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of over $238 billion as of September 26, 2022.
The South African city of Pretoria is where Musk was born and raised. Prior to relocating to Canada at the age of 17, where he later attained citizenship through his mother, he attended the University of Pretoria. He enrolled at Queen’s University in Ontario two years later and eventually changed to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with bachelor’s degrees in both economics and physics. He travelled to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University but changed his mind and chose to pursue a career in business instead. He and his brother Kimbal co-founded the online software company Zip2. For $307 million, Compaq purchased the firm in 1999. Musk was a co-founder of the online bank X.com, which merged with Confinity to establish PayPal the following year. PayPal was purchased by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
Musk is the CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, a manufacturer of aerospace products and a provider of space transportation services. He invested early in Tesla Motors, Inc., a maker of electric vehicles, in 2004. (now Tesla, Inc.). He was appointed as its chairman and product architect before eventually becoming its CEO in 2008. He contributed to the founding of SolarCity in 2006, which Tesla later purchased and rebranded as Tesla Energy.
He co-founded OpenAI in 2015, a nonprofit research organisation that supports benign artificial intelligence (AI). He co-launched the neurotechnology business Neuralink in 2016 with a focus on creating brain-computer connections. He also founded the tunnel-building business The Boring Company. Musk is the president of the Musk Foundation, which donates to scientific research and education, and has proposed a hyperloop high-speed transportation system.
Musk has been under fire for making unfounded and divisive claims, including distributing false information on the COVID-19 epidemic and advancing divisive viewpoints on politics and other technology, particularly on Twitter. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States sued Musk in 2018 for making false and misleading claims in a tweet that he had funds secured for a private acquisition of Tesla. He reached a settlement with the SEC without expressing regret and temporarily resigned as chairman of Tesla.
He prevailed in a defamation lawsuit launched by a British cave diver who provided advice during the Tham Luang cave rescue in 2019. Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, but later sent a letter terminating the agreement, which caused the deal to fall through and have court cases involving both sides. Musk ultimately chose to go through with the purchase, though.
Childhood and family
Elon Reeve Musk was baptised into an Anglican church and was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, one of South Africa’s capital cities. Musk is descended from Pennsylvania Dutch and British people. His mother is Maye Musk, a model and dietician who was reared in South Africa after being born in Saskatchewan, Canada. His father, Errol Musk, is a half-owner of an emerald mine in Zambia close to Lake Tanganyika.
He is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and real estate developer. Kimbal Musk, a younger brother, was born in 1972, and Tosca Musk, a younger sister (born in 1974).
When Musk was younger, his family was affluent. His children are said to share their father’s distaste for apartheid, and his father was elected to the Pretoria City Council as a representative of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party. Joshua Haldeman, his maternal grandfather, was a daring American-born Canadian who flew his family to Australia and Africa in a single-engine Bellanca aeroplane, breaking records in the process. Musk spent the majority of his time with his father after his parents separated in 1980. Due to his growing distance from his father, Musk later came to regret his choice. He has a half-sister and a half-brother on his paternal side.
Ashlee Vance, who wrote Musk’s biography, describes Musk as an awkward, reserved youngster. Musk first became interested in computers and video games when he was ten years old. He then bought a Commodore VIC-20 and taught himself programming from the handbook. At the age of 12, he sold the $500 BASIC game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine.
Education
He went to Bryanston High School, Waterkloof House Preparatory School, and Pretoria Boys High School before graduating. Musk, born in Canada, applied for a Canadian passport through his mother, reasoning that it would be simpler to enter the country through this route. He spent five months studying at the University of Pretoria while he awaited the paperwork, which allowed him to escape being drafted into the South African Defence Force.
Musk entered Canada in June 1989 and spent a year in Saskatchewan living with a second cousin while working various jobs at a farm and a timber plant. He started at Kingston, Ontario’s Queen’s University in 1990. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later. He finished his studies there, earning a Bachelor of Science in economics from the Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in physics in 1995.
Two internships in Silicon Valley were held by Musk in 1994: one at the energy storage startup Pinnacle Research Institute, which looked into electrolytic ultracapacitors for energy storage, and another at the Palo Alto-based startup Rocket Science Games. He was granted admission to Stanford University’s doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in materials science in 1995. Musk ultimately made the decision to join the Internet boom and submitted an application for a position at Netscape, however, it is said that he never heard back.
His wives and girlfriends
Justine Musk
The tech whiz’s first wife, Justine Musk, formerly Justine Wilson, was married to Musk in 2000. Nevada, their first son, was born in 2002, but at 10 weeks old, he passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
A total of five children were born to the couple: twins Griffin and Vivian in 2004 and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian in 2006. Elon and Justine divorced in 2008, and Justine revealed to Marie Claire in 2010 that Elon viewed her as a “starter wife.”
Talulah Riley
Six weeks after Musk filed for divorce from Justine, actress Talulah Riley became engaged to him. She later wed the businessman in 2010.
When they originally divorced at Elon’s request in 2014, the pair hit a tough stretch. 18 months after the couple’s reconciliation and remarriage, Riley filed for divorce.
Amber Heard
After Amber Heard’s divorce from Johnny Depp, the creator of SpaceX moved on to her and began seeing her in late 2016.
Due to their busy schedules, she and Musk ended their relationship after just one year.
The separation was difficult for Musk, he continued, adding that he was “truly in love, and it hurt tremendously,” in a November 2017 interview with Rolling Stone.
Grimes
Musk started dating musician Grimes in April of 2018, according to an exclusive story by Page Six. This was one month before the couple made their red carpet-debut at the Met Gala. At the time, a source told us that they first connected online after Musk learned Grimes had tweeted the same joke he was going to.
Breakup rumours started in the fall of 2018 after Musk and Grimes unfollowed one another on Twitter after rapper Azealia Banks revealed that she had been waiting for Grimes to arrive at the billionaire’s Los Angeles compound so that they could collaborate on music in a tweet.
The rapper went on a days-long tirade in which she labelled Musk a “trash ass beta male pig,” Grimes a “dirty-sneaker-inbred-out of the woods-Pabst beer p-y meth head-junkie,” and the couple intended to have a threesome with her.
In a March 2019 interview with WSJ. Magazine, Grimes, however, affirmed that she and the co-founder of PayPal were still dating. The singer of “Flesh Without Blood” made her pregnancy public in January 2020 by sharing a photo of her growing baby bulge on Instagram.
In May 2020, Grimes and Elon had baby X A-12. While the singer was recuperating from giving birth, the couple debated the pronunciation of the name on Twitter.
To comply with California law, the parents then changed their son’s name to X A-XII.
After three years of dating, the pair announced their separation on social media, with Musk stating that they are “semi-separated” but still on good terms and co-parenting their 1-year-old son.
Musk said, “We are semi-separated but still love each other, visit each other often, and are on fantastic terms.
After speculations surfaced that he was seeing Australian actress Natasha Bassett, Grimes confirmed the couple was back together in her Vanity Fair cover story published in March 2022. She also disclosed that in December 2021, she secretly had a baby girl from a surrogate named Exa Dark Sidereel Musk. She disclosed that they had broken up again a few hours after the story was published.
Shivon Zilis
The birth of twins by Musk and Zilis, the director of operations and special projects at Musk’s Neuralink business, was quietly announced in July 2022. The couple requested that their newborns “have their father’s last name and have their mother’s last name as part of their middle name,” according to court documents acquired by Business Insider. A judge reportedly granted the request in May 2022.
The names of the infants weren’t made public right away. One day later, Musk tweeted, “Doing my best to address the underpopulation situation,” appearing to confirm the allegation. The greatest threat to civilization is a collapse in birth rate,”
His kids and their mothers
Nevada Alexander Musk
Musk and Canadian writer Justine Wilson delivered their son Nevada Alexander Musk in 2002 after being married in January 2000. Nevada, who was only 10 weeks old, passed away from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Griffin and Vivian Musk
Musk and Wilson used IVF to conceive a second child after losing their first. In April 2004, she gave birth to twins named Griffin and Vivian Musk. The age of Griffin and Vivian is currently 18. When Vivian asked to change her first name and adopt her mother’s last name in June 2022, she came out as transgender.
“Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape, or form,” was the reason given in the application.
Kai, Saxon, and Damian Musk
Kai, Saxon, and Damian, the former couple’s triplet sons, were born in January 2006 thanks to IVF. The group is currently sixteen. In 2008, Musk and Wilson were divorced.
X AE A-XII Musk
Musk began dating singer Grimes in May 2018 after two marriages to “Westworld” actress Talulah Riley and a brief romance with actress Amber Heard. In May 2020, she gave birth to their son, X AE A-XII. Now X is two.
X’s parents had to change his name because “X” and “A-12” were illegal under California law because they aren’t letters in the English alphabet.
In September 2021, Page Six revealed the exclusive story that Musk and Grimes had split up.
Exa Dark Sideræl Musk
Exa Dark Siderael Musk, the SpaceX founder’s first daughter, was born through a surrogate in December 2021, according to a March 2022 statement from Grimes. Since their other child was named X, Exa was given the nickname Y.
In the shocking Vanity Fair interview, Grimes referred to Musk as her “boyfriend,” despite the fact that she described their relationship as “fluid.” However, she tweeted that they had broken up once more after the cover story was published.
Twins with Shivon Zilis
According to court documents obtained by Business Insider in July 2022, Musk secretly gave birth to twins in November 2021 with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects at Neuralink.
A judge in Austin, Texas granted Musk and Zilis’ request to have the twins’ names changed in May 2022 so that they would “have their father’s last name and incorporate their mother’s last name as part of their middle name.” We don’t yet know the names of the newborns.
Wealth
In 2002, Musk profited $175.8 million from the sale of PayPal to eBay. With a $2 billion net worth, he was first included on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012. Musk’s net worth was $27 billion at the beginning of the year 2020. By the end of the year, his net worth had climbed by $150 billion, partly as a result of his owning about 20% of the stock in Tesla. Musk’s net worth was erratic during this time. For instance, it fell $16.3 billion in September, the biggest decrease in a single day in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Musk surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to take over the second-richest position in the world a week after passing Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to become the third-richest person in the world in November of that year. With a net worth of $185 billion, Musk overcame Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, to claim the title of the richest person in the world in January 2021. The following month, Bezos recaptured first place. After Tesla shares soared, Forbes declared on September 27, 2021, that Musk had a net worth of over $200 billion and was the richest person in the world. Musk became the first individual with a net worth of over $300 billion in November 2021.
Tesla is the source of about three-quarters of Musk’s fortune. Musk signed a compensation plan with the board in 2018 that links his personal profits to Tesla’s valuation and sales; as a result, Musk does not get a salary from Tesla. The agreement said that Musk would only be paid if Tesla attained specific market values. The agreement was the biggest of its kind ever made between a CEO and a board. He was qualified to purchase 1.69 million TESLA shares (about 1% of the firm) for the initial reward, which was given in May 2020, at discounts that were worth around $800 million.
Between 2014 and 2018, Musk paid $455 million in taxes on $1.52 billion in revenue. Musk didn’t pay any federal income taxes in 2018, according to ProPublica. According to him, his sale of $14 billion worth of Tesla stock resulted in an estimated $12 billion tax liability for 2021.
In 2003, Musk declared that the L-39 Albatros was his favourite aircraft. He purchased a second private plane in August 2020 and currently utilises one that is owned by the SpaceX-affiliated company Falcon Landing LLC. It has drawn criticism for the jet’s extensive usage of fossil fuels—it travelled more than 150,000 miles in 2018 alone.
Musk has frequently acknowledged being “cash poor” and claiming to be uninterested in the worldly trappings of money. He promised to sell practically all of his material goods in May 2020. Musk defended his wealth by claiming that he is stockpiling materials for humanity’s ascent into space.
Philanthropy
Musk is the president of the Musk Foundation, whose stated goals are to support science and engineering education initiatives, support research, development, and advocacy efforts (for areas such as human space exploration, paediatrics, renewable energy, and “safe artificial intelligence”), and provide solar-powered energy systems in disaster areas. From 2002 to 2018, it donated $25 million directly to non-profits, with Musk’s OpenAI receiving close to half of that amount at the time.
The foundation has given more than 350 times since 2002. About half went to NGOs that support scientific research or education. The Wikimedia Foundation, his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania, and his brother Kimbal’s Big Green are notable recipients. Musk pledged to donate the majority of his wealth to philanthropic organisations either during his lifetime or in his estate when he signed the Giving Pledge in 2012. At the X Prize Foundation, he has endowed prizes, including one for $100 million for more advanced carbon capture technologies. Vox noted that the Musk Foundation’s website contained only 33 words of plain text and that it was “nearly entertaining in its simplicity and yet also stunningly opaque.”
The comparatively tiny amount of wealth provided has drawn criticism for the charity. Because Musk donated less than 1% of his net assets, Forbes gave him a philanthropy score of 1 in 2020. Musk contributed $5.7 billion worth of Tesla shares to charity in November 2021; nevertheless, Fortune magazine observed that no NGOs later announced receiving any money from Musk, despite his regulatory filing from November 2021 indicating earmarking 5.7 billion worth of his Tesla shares for charity.
Recognition
In 2018, Musk was chosen as a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). In addition to honorary membership in IEEE, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering and technology from Yale University in 2015. He received the George Low Transportation Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2008, the Gold Space Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 2010, and the Gold Medal from the Royal Aeronautical Society in 2012. In 2010, 2013, 2018, and 2021, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
Musk was chosen as 2021’s “Person of the Year” by Time magazine. Few people have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and possibly life off Earth as well, according to Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal, who said that “Person of the Year is a marker of influence.” Musk was chosen to join the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.
Conclusion
Elon Musk is a South African-born American businessman who co founded PayPal and launched the launch vehicle and spaceship manufacturer SpaceX. He was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. Musk established Zip2, a web software startup with his brother Kimbal, which they sold to Compaq for $307 million four years later. He then co-founded the online bank X.com, which later merged with Confinity to become PayPal.
Bloomberg estimates his net worth to be $254 billion as of August 2022, making him the world’s richest person. He has roughly $90 billion more than Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who comes in second. oversees Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, four businesses. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world according to both Forbes and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, said last year that the key to his success was “I own 20% of a company that became incredibly valuable.”