Elon Musk, the first person in the world to create new historic milestones in many fields, recently became an official mega-billionaire after SpaceX registered on the stock exchange and officially began trading shares on 12 June. He reached a net worth exceeding $1.1 trillion, making him the world's first trillionaire.
This world's richest billionaire has further widened the wealth gap with the second richest, Larry Page, whose total assets are $290 billion, making Musk's fortune nearly four times larger—making it difficult for anyone to catch up and dethrone the world's number one.
Looking back over the past few years, Forbes data shows that Musk's wealth has continuously surged.
And in 2026, he became the first human to reach $1 trillion in wealth. This all comes from the increased value of the businesses he owns, including both private and public companies that he founded or acquired.
Last Friday, SpaceX made history with its IPO as SPCX shares began trading on Nasdaq for the first day, opening at $150 per share and closing at about $161, up 19% from the IPO price of $135.
Elon Musk's journey to this point has been extraordinary, marked by many trials and triumphs, creating multiple businesses and memorable exploits. He has become an icon in business, finance, and social media, often subject to criticism.
This article from Thairath Money in theHow to Make Moneycolumn takes a deep dive into the identity of the world's first trillionaire, Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX and a legend in the market. It explores his upbringing, career path, and the steps that led to his immense success.
Back in 1971, Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa. His father, Errol Musk, was wealthy and skilled in many areas including engineering, investing, business, and even served as a consultant to the Pretoria city council.
His mother, Maye Musk, was a former famous model who appeared on the covers of Time and Vogue magazines. She is also a bestselling author who wrote about her personal life, including becoming a mother at 31, divorcing, raising children alone, and struggling financially at one point.
Elon Musk is the eldest sibling, with a younger brother, Kimbal Musk, who later co-founded businesses with him, and a younger sister, Tosca Musk. The family is known for giving their children somewhat unusual names.
Believe it or not, we almost never knew the name Elon because his parents initially chose the name Nice (pronounced 'Neez'), after the French city where they said he was conceived. The uniqueness of their naming tradition carried on to Elon’s children as well.
Moreover, the name Elon is linked to a science fiction novel by Wernher von Braun, in which “Elon” is the title of an elected leader on Mars. This perfectly aligns with Elon Musk's current vision of establishing a colony on Mars.
At age 10, Elon, who loved science and computers from childhood, began teaching himself coding. By 1984, at 13 years old, he created his first video game called Blastar, which he sold for $500.
Later, in 1989, his mother sent him to study at Queen’s University in Canada before moving to the United States when Elon was 21. There, he studied physics and economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Afterward, he attempted to pursue a PhD in applied physics at Stanford University but dropped out after just two days to start his own startup business.
Elon Musk's first startup, co-founded with his brother Kimbal Musk, was Zip2, a digital yellow pages directory for publishers and newspapers. It was an online directory allowing users to search and map routes to stores or publishers.
Zip2 was successful enough to secure contracts with major news outlets and was eventually acquired in 1999 by Compaq for $307 million, with Elon Musk receiving $22 million. This money became the foundation for his future ventures.
His next business was X.com, founded in 1999 as an online financial and payment platform—one of the first online banking services allowing users to transfer money via email, with plans for comprehensive online financial services including deposits and investments.
Within a year, in 2000, X.com merged with Confinity, the developer of PayPal, a popular payment system. The combined company continued under the PayPal brand, aiming to build the most secure payment system.
Later, internal conflicts arose among PayPal's executives, and Elon Musk was removed as CEO. However, as a major shareholder, he benefited when eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion, earning him $175 million.
That same year, using $100 million in funding, Musk founded SpaceX with the primary goal of revolutionizing the space industry.
As a child, Elon Musk was fascinated by space, inspired by science fiction like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Foundation, which deeply influenced his views on humanity’s future.
This interest led to the 2001 "Mars Oasis" project, intending to send plants to Mars to reignite public interest in space exploration. However, he found rocket launch costs prohibitively high at the time.
Ultimately, this effort became the foundation for founding SpaceX, aiming to develop low-cost, reusable rocket technology to make space travel more accessible.
For Elon Musk, SpaceX’s goal extends beyond satellite launches or space missions to making humans a "multi-planetary species" capable of living on more than one planet.
He believes that expanding human civilization beyond Earth is crucial for humanity’s survival in case of major threats like nuclear war, climate change, or uncontrollable AI.
SpaceX has since diversified, with Starlink satellite internet becoming a primary revenue source. The company is also pushing into AI and data centers, possibly leading to the first space-based data centers.
SpaceX continues developing the Starship spacecraft designed to transport humans and cargo to the Moon and Mars, with Elon Musk’s ultimate goal to establish a human colony on Mars with a population of one million.
After SpaceX took shape, Musk began a key journey with Tesla Motors in 2004 by investing and becoming chairman, later CEO, playing a critical role in transforming Tesla from a small startup into the global leader in electric vehicles.
Tesla went public in 2010, raising $226 million through its IPO, and launched the Tesla Model S in 2012, a turning point proving electric cars can combine high performance, advanced technology, and practical usability.
Since then, Tesla has rapidly expanded to become one of the most influential companies worldwide and a major source of Musk’s immense wealth alongside SpaceX’s success.
On 12 June 2026, SpaceX officially listed on the stock market and began trading on Nasdaq, with the company’s valuation rocketing to $2 trillion.
This soaring valuation pushed Elon Musk’s wealth, holding about 42% of SpaceX shares, past $1 trillion, making him the world’s first trillionaire instantly.
On SpaceX’s first trading day, Musk proudly spoke from the Starbase facility in Texas: “It’s almost unbelievable that a small company starting from a warehouse in El Segundo would become the largest IPO in history.”
“If we hadn’t dared to try, if no new companies had entered the space industry, humanity would never become a truly spacefaring civilization.”
However, it remains to be seen how much more SpaceX, Tesla, and his other ventures like Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X can increase his wealth, and whether anyone can dethrone him as the world’s richest person.
Sources:Forbes,CNBC,Business Insider,Reuters
Follow the Facebook page Thairath Money at this link -https://www.facebook.com/ThairathMoney