Elon Musk turns 55: the trillionaire challenging global governance
Wealth was not an end in itself, but rather the lens through which to view an entrepreneurial and financial journey that pushed the boundaries of what is possible.
Happy birthday to Elon Musk, who turns 55 today, with a cumulative wealth of $938 billion; he has been the world’s richest man consistently, albeit with various fluctuations in his net worth, since the start of 2024. The peak of 1.32 trillion was reached a few days ago, amid the euphoria surrounding SpaceX’s flotation – needless to say, the biggest IPO in history – before subsequently falling back.
As we reported in Elonomics, the *Sole 24 Ore* book on Musk’s strategic thinking, his first online interview was with CNN in 1999, marking the beginnings of his financial wealth and his remarkable rise as an entrepreneur. He is wearing one of those baggy jackets that were in fashion in the 1990s. He is twenty-eight years old, but has far less hair than he does today. He is eagerly awaiting the arrival of his new car. It is a McLaren F1 – the most exclusive sports car of its time. It has a 600-cavalli engine and costs around 1 million dollars.
It is as if that car marked his entry into the ranks of California’s wealthy entrepreneurs. The money to buy it came from the sale of Zip2 for over 300 million dollars. He held a 7 per cent stake and took home 22 million.
Musk was born in South Africa on 28 June 1971, before moving to Canada in 1989 to study at Queen’s University. In 1992, he moved to the United States to complete a degree in Physics and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1995, he enrolled at Stanford to pursue a PhD, but dropped out after two days to focus on his business venture: Zip2. It was a sort of online city guide that combined street maps with business directories.
For many, the sale of Zip2 would have been a successful exit. Moreover, this was the period just before the dotcom bubble was about to burst, so he could have played it safe. Instead, he invested 12 million to set up x.com. His ambition was to replace virtually the entire range of traditional banking services with current accounts, debit card payments, investments and loans that could be managed online. The website allowed users to transfer money via email.
