Business
How Much Elon Musk Has Made From Every Company He’s Founded
By Jake Beardslee · October 14, 2025
From Start-Ups to Spacecraft: The Pattern Behind Musk’s Fortune
For nearly 30 years, Elon Musk has cycled through a pattern of risk, reward, and reinvestment. As of October 14, Forbes pegs his net worth at $477.5 billion.From online city guides to brain chips and rockets, his ventures have reshaped industries while making him the richest person alive. Daniel Oberhaus, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Zip2: The First Cash-Out
In 1995, Musk and his brother Kimbal launched Zip2, a digital directory for newspapers, using $28,000 from their father, CNN reported. When Compaq acquired the company in 1999 for $307 million, Musk’s share came to $22 million — the seed money for everything that followed. Wikiupdate1019, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
PayPal: The Internet’s First Real Bank
After Zip2, Musk funneled his profits into founding X.com, an early online bank that merged with Confinity to form PayPal. When eBay purchased PayPal in 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock, Musk walked away with $165 million, according to CNN. The sale made him rich — but instead of cashing out, he doubled down. PayPal / Wikimedia
SpaceX: Betting on the Cosmos
In 2002, Musk launched SpaceX, an aerospace startup with the goal of cutting the cost of spaceflight. The company’s website reports 555 missions, 516 landings, and 480 reflights — numbers that once seemed unthinkable for a private firm.Privately held and valued at $400 billion, according to Barron’s, SpaceX’s Starlink division now blankets much of the globe in satellite internet, proving Musk’s brand of ambition can be as profitable as it is outlandish. Craig Bailey / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Tesla: The Shock Heard Around Wall Street
Musk joined Tesla in 2004 and took over as CEO in 2008. The company went public at $17 per share in 2010; today, shares trade near $435.90. KKPCW, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Neuralink: Where Thought Meets Machine
Founded in 2016, Neuralink designs implantable devices that connect the human brain to computers. Test subjects have reportedly used the technology to control computers and robotic arms through thought.Still privately held, Semafor valued Neuralink at $9 billion as of May 2025. Whether it becomes the next Tesla or fades into regulatory limbo remains to be seen. Neuralink Corp / Wikimedia
The Boring Company: Digging for a New Future
Musk created The Boring Company in 2017 to reimagine urban transportation through underground tunnels. Its most visible project, the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, spans 1.7 miles and links three stations beneath the Strip.The company has raised over $900 million, according to Bloomberg. For now, it’s another private piece of Musk’s expanding infrastructure puzzle. Steve Jurvetson from Menlo Park, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
xAI: Musk’s Late Arrival to the AI Race
In 2023, Musk founded xAI, his answer to the artificial intelligence boom. Its chatbot Grok has been integrated into his social media platform, X.Reuters reported that xAI acquired X in March 2025 through an all-stock deal worth $45 billion, including $12 billion in debt. Now valued at $80 billion, xAI cements Musk’s stake in the AI arms race he once criticized. X.AI Corp / Wikimedia