Elon Musk’s wealth is based mainly on his shareholdings in the electric car firm Tesla, of which he is the CEO, and space exploration company SpaceX.
He also co-founded payments company PayPal and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast.
Musk has dabbled in many projects during his career to date, from online payment systems, artificial intelligence and transportation above and below ground and into outer space.
Musk is currently the world’s richest person having surpassed Jeff Bezos, but his wealth, like many billionaires, is based on his stock holdings.
Elon Musk rocketed to billionaire status, after entering the elite club in 2012 just nine years later he topped the list.
Elon Reeve Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa where he grew up and would briefly attend university.
He was born into a family of considerable wealth and had a knack for technology and entrepreneurship at a young age.
He wrote and sold the code for a video game when he just 12 years old. But his dreams lay on the other side of the world in America.