Elon Musk: From the richest to the most controversial - a look at his assets!

Find out everything about Elon Musk, his influence, controversy and financial developments as of May 4, 2025 in the Kieler Nachrichten.
Find out everything about Elon Musk, his influence, controversy and financial developments as of May 4, 2025 in the Kieler Nachrichten. (Symbolbild/NAGW)

Elon Musk: From the richest to the most controversial - a look at his assets!

Pretoria, Südafrika - Elon Musk, who was born on June 28, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa, is an entrepreneur with South African, Canadian and American roots. It is considered one of the relevant innovators of our time and has accumulated an impressive assets through various start-ups, which will be estimated in March 2025 at around $ 327.3 billion. Its wealth is closely associated with its business activities, including successful projects such as ZIP2, PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla. However, the past few months have been shaped by challenges that influenced his status as the richest person in the world.

Musk became rich through its diverse ventures. He founded ZIP2 in 1995, which he sold in 1999 for $ 307 million. The sale of PayPal to Ebay in 2002 earned him about $ 180 million. SpaceX, which he launched in 2002, is now estimated at over $ 100 billion, while Tesla has reached a market capitalization of over a trillion US dollar since 2004, which was declining by March 18, 2025, since SpaceX is now considered the most valuable company in Musk. According to Forbes , SpaceX has reached a corporate evaluation of $ 350 billion by the end of 2024.

Current developments and challenges

The Tesla share has come under pressure in the past few months. The decline is due to weak delivery figures in January 2025, which together with protests in the USA against Tesla and Musk led to a significant loss of price. Analysts have reduced their forecasts for global deliveries, and Musk, as head of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (Doge), has to face political challenges after the re-election of Donald Trump, in which he donated more than $ 200 million. Despite these setbacks, Musk's assets continue to increase, also thanks to a 42 percent share of SpaceX worth $ 147 billion.

Another reason for concern are the setbacks in the Tesla division. In January 2025, the company reported sales of $ 97.7 billion for 2024, while winning decreased for the second time in a row. Tesla's market capitalization reached its maximum of 1.5 organic. US dollars and musk now hold 12 percent of Tesla shares that amount to around $ 97.8 billion. Nevertheless, he has pledged more than half of these shares to secure loans of up to $ 3.5 billion.

criticism and controversy

However,

Elon Musk is not only known because of his business achievements, but also because of his controversy. In the past, he was criticized for anti-Semitic statements, his derogatory views on the German past and his minimizing statements about the Covid 19 pandemic. His trans-hostile statements and the relativization of the platform moderation on Twitter, now X Corp, have also led to a violent public debate. His daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson has publicly distanced himself from him and criticizes his controversial statements.

Apart from the business and public challenges, Musk has to struggle with health problems in his private life and with the obligations towards his 14 children from four different women. Despite these challenges, Musk remains optimistic about the future of its companies.

For many, Elon Musk remains a polarizing figure: admired for his innovative strength, criticizes his radical views and controversial actions. According to wikipedia , Musk is not only a passionate businessman, but also an enthusiastic player of video games and even admitted to having cheated while playing. The next steps in his career are eagerly awaited.

Details
OrtPretoria, Südafrika
Quellen