Elon Musk is a South African-American multibillionaire businessman and entrepreneur. Over the years, his high-profile involvements in major companies such as PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla have seen him accrue a large amount of wealth, consistently ranking him among the wealthiest people in the world, if not the absolute richest overall. As of December 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at nearly $430 billion, making him the wealthiest person on Earth, having a worth on par with the 2nd and 3rd richest people on the list – Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison – combined.
In 2022, Musk fully acquired the social media platform Twitter, which he has since renamed X. His acquisition and running of X have sparked both praise and criticism by commentators.
Musk has also been seen as an increasingly divisive figure in recent years over his business decisions and expressed views regarding gender, politics, COVID-19, free speech, and more, with some describing him as a free speech advocate and others accusing him of aiding problematic far-Right voices.
Alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk is currently set to head a new department in the US government known as the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE).
