How Elon Musk Became the Richest Person in the World

What if I told you there's a man who wants to live on Mars, builds amazing electric cars, and became the richest person on Earth?
Sounds like a superhero movie, right?
Well, this is a true story.The story of Elon Musk, one of the most creative and daring minds of our time.

The Curious Kid from South Africa

Elon Musk was born in 1971 in South Africa. As a child, he was quiet and loved reading books, learning about science, and playing with computers.
At the age of 12, he taught himself how to code and built a simple video game. Then he sold it for money! Even as a kid, Elon was already turning his ideas into something big.

Moving to America to Chase His Dreams

Elon believed that the United States was the best place to build his dreams. He moved to Canada first, and later to the U.S. to go to college. He studied physics and business  because he wanted to understand both science and how to run a company. He didn’t want just a job. He wanted to change the world.

His First Company: Zip2

After college, Elon and his brother started a company called Zip2. It helped newspapers go online — something very new at the time. Most people didn’t know what the internet could do yet.
In just a few years, Elon sold the company for $300 million. He was only 27 years old.

Making Online Money Easy: PayPal

Next, Elon helped start a company called X.com, which became PayPal, a fast and safe way to send money online.
This company was a huge success and was later bought by eBay for $1.5 billion. Now Elon had enough money to do something big. Really big.

Rockets and Space: SpaceX

Elon didn’t spend all his money on fancy cars or giant houses. Instead, he used it to build rockets.
Yes: rockets!
He started a company called SpaceX because he wanted to explore space and maybe even build a colony on Mars someday.
At first, things didn’t go well. His rockets failed many times and exploded. People laughed. Some said he was wasting his money.
But Elon didn’t give up.
Eventually, SpaceX launched successful rockets. It became the first private company to send astronauts into space.

Driving Into the Future: Tesla

Elon also joined a small electric car company called Tesla. At the time, people thought electric cars were slow, ugly, and useless.
But Elon had a vision: cool, fast, clean cars that didn’t need gasoline.
Tesla struggled at first, but Elon worked day and night. Today, Tesla is one of the most valuable car companies in the world — and electric cars are everywhere.

Even More Wild Ideas

Elon didn’t stop with rockets and cars. He also started:

• Neuralink, a company that’s trying to connect brains to computers

• Starlink, which gives internet to people through satellites in space

• The Boring Company, which builds tunnels under cities to reduce traffic

All of these ideas sounded strange at first. But Elon believes that if an idea sounds crazy, it might just be great.

Becoming the Richest Person

Because of Tesla’s huge success, Elon’s wealth exploded. In 2021, he became the richest person in the world, passing Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
But Elon doesn't just care about money. He wants to build a better future — on Earth and maybe even beyond it.

So, What’s Elon Musk’s Secret?

He dreamed big.
He worked hard.
He never gave up — even when people said he was crazy, and even when things failed.

What about you? What big idea do you have?
Who knows... maybe one day, you could change the world too.