Elon Musk | South African • Canadian-American

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Credit: EPA/Jerry Lampen

Elon Musk

South African-born, Canadian-American

Co-founder + CEO, Tesla | Founder + CEO + CTO, SpaceX

Co-founder + Chairman, Solar City

Instagram: @elonmusk


Elon Musk, who became a U.S. citizen in 2002, was born in South Africa to a Canadian mother and South African father. After developing an interest in computers at 10 years old, by age 12 he had taught himself computer programming, created a computer based video game, and sold it to PC and Office Technology Magazine.

Elon graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in physics and economics at 24 years old. A year later, Elon and his brother developed Zip2 – a software that provided an internet city guide for newspaper publishing companies. The software was sold in 1999 and turned Elon into a millionaire. He then used the proceeds from the Zip2 sale to co-found X.com (an online payment services company). X.com merged with Paypal, and was sold to Ebay for over $1 billion in stocks.

Popularly know for his role in launching Tesla Motors in 2008, Elon is now the mastermind behind SpaceX. His goal is to evolve rocket technology and bring human life to mars!