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Read the storyElon Musk
Tesla CEO; SpaceX founder
Elon Musk is Tesla’s chief executive and the founder of SpaceX. His career spans electric vehicles, space transportation, internet businesses and artificial intelligence. Before SpaceX, he co-founded Zip2 and the business that became PayPal. He joined Tesla’s board in 2004 and became CEO in 2008. His other ventures include Neuralink and The Boring Company, and he helped launch OpenAI in 2015.
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At a glance
Elon Musk is Tesla’s chief executive and the founder of SpaceX. His career spans electric vehicles, space transportation, internet businesses and artificial intelligence. Before SpaceX, he co-founded Zip2 and the business that became PayPal. He joined Tesla’s board in 2004 and became CEO in 2008. His other ventures include Neuralink and The Boring Company, and he helped launch OpenAI in 2015.
- Current role
- Tesla CEO; SpaceX founder ↗
- Tesla leadership
- Board member since April 2004; CEO since October 2008 ↗
- Early companies
- Zip2; PayPal predecessor ↗
- Other ventures
- Neuralink; The Boring Company ↗
Sources checked . Selected career background and milestones.
Career, in context.
Selected research, leadership and career milestones, newest first.
SpaceX acquires xAI
xAI’s official announcement states that SpaceX has acquired the AI company, adding a documented AI-company transaction to the history of Musk’s space business.
Source: xAI ↗SpaceX launches its first astronauts
SpaceX launches NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard Crew Dragon on the Demo-2 test flight, beginning the spacecraft’s first mission with people.
Source: NASA ↗Helps launch OpenAI
OpenAI’s founding announcement names Musk and Sam Altman as co-chairs of the nonprofit research organisation, marking an early connection to the AI field.
Source: OpenAI ↗Becomes Tesla CEO
Musk becomes Tesla’s chief executive in October 2008 after serving on its board. Tesla’s executive biography records the start of his CEO tenure.
Source: Tesla ↗Joins Tesla’s board
Musk joins Tesla’s board in April 2004, beginning his formal leadership involvement with the electric-vehicle company several years before becoming its chief executive.
Source: Tesla ↗Founds SpaceX
Musk establishes Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, in 2002. Tesla’s executive biography dates the start of his SpaceX leadership to May.
Source: Tesla ↗Zip2 is acquired by Compaq
Compaq acquires Zip2, the internet software business Musk co-founded, in March 1999. The sale precedes his subsequent ventures in online payments and spaceflight.
Source: Tesla ↗
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The latest on Elon Musk
Newest firstRelated reporting
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Musk Promises Grok Bot Will Handle Returns
Musk says Grok Bot will also handle returns, days after users' weekly meters maxed out and he called its serving cost unsustainably high.
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Sam Altman Becomes Ram Altman, Briefly
After calling home DRAM terrible, Altman renamed himself Ram Altman and said he wants you to have tons of memory, while memory stays under contract.
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Europe Taxes the Future
Plus: OpenAI Guards the Grid It Drains, Musk's Abundance Lasted Three Days
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SpaceX Wants Boost Mobile's Borrowed Network
SpaceX has discussed buying Boost Mobile or using its network, but that network is leased from AT&T and T-Mobile, which already turned Musk down.
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Grok Bot Grew Fast, Then Got Rationed
Musk called Grok Bot his fastest growing product, then told a user seeking a usage reset that serving it cost too much relative to revenue.
1 min read · Members
Judge Rules xAI's Power Plant Isn't Mobile
A federal judge let the NAACP's Clean Air Act suit proceed, rejecting xAI's claim that its 27 Southaven gas turbines were mobile and exempt.
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SpaceX Adds Gun Range and Spam Clusters
Musk says Gun Range and Spam add about 420,000 Nvidia GB300s by December, named for a police gun range and a former Hormel building.
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Democrats Want Trump's Grok Chats Preserved
House Democrats asked Trump to preserve his chatbot prompts after a report that he asked Grok about capturing Maduro the month before ordering it.
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Anthropic Is SpaceX's Customer B
Anthropic supplied 34.5% of SpaceX's third-quarter revenue, more than the US government, under compute deals either side can cancel from 2027.
