New York (AFP) – Elon Musk defines himself as an engineer trying to save humanity, while his critics call him a far-right showman who overpromises and underdelivers. Either way, he is the world’s richest person and the founder of some of the most high-profile companies on the planet. Here is a look at his business empire as his space and AI company SpaceX prepares to sell shares to the public for the first time.
**SpaceX, Starlink, xAI**
SpaceX builds rockets and spacecraft, and has become the dominant force in commercial space launches — regularly sending astronauts to the International Space Station and satellites into orbit. Its Starlink division beams high-speed internet from space to users around the world. Starlink now boasts more than nine million subscribers — a real commercial success, although critics have raised concerns about Musk’s willingness to restrict access for political reasons, including during the war in Ukraine. SpaceX also absorbed Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI — which makes the Grok chatbot — in an all-stock deal in February 2026, creating what was described as the largest corporate merger in history, with the combined entity valued at approximately $1.25 trillion. Whether that eye-popping valuation reflects reality or investor hype remains hotly debated. Musk’s surprise decision to lease out his Colossus data center in Memphis to rival Anthropic is seen as a possible sign that his ambitions for xAI are not being met.
**Tesla**
Tesla popularized electric vehicles and remains one of the most recognized car brands in the world. It also develops solar panels and home battery storage systems, and is working on self-driving technology and humanoid robots — projects Musk has repeatedly promised are just around the corner, though timelines have often slipped by years. One of Tesla’s most hyped products, the stainless-steel Cybertruck, has proven to be a commercial disappointment and the broader company has also hit turbulence. 2025 brought a sales slump that stemmed from increased competition globally and a consumer backlash against Musk’s political activities, including his financial support for President Donald Trump and his endorsement of Germany’s far-right AfD party. Tesla is publicly traded and its stock is down around 20 percent in the past year. Musk’s ownership of Tesla peaked at around 20 percent of the company in 2021 before he sold shares to buy Twitter, but he still firmly controls the company.
**X (formerly Twitter)**
X — the platform formerly known as Twitter — is a social media site where users post short messages and videos, share news and debate politics. Musk acquired it in October 2022 for roughly $44 billion, rebranded it as X, cut a large portion of its staff, and loosened content moderation policies. Advertisers fled in response, and the experiment is widely viewed as a failure that has turned the site into an echo chamber for Musk’s fans and his increasingly right-wing views. After seeing its valuation decimated, the platform is now estimated to be worth roughly what Musk originally paid for it, based on the value given to shareholders when he folded the company into xAI — laying the groundwork for the SpaceX IPO.
**Neuralink**
Neuralink is developing tiny computer chips that can be implanted in the human brain, with the stated goal of helping people with paralysis or neurological conditions communicate using only their thoughts. In trials, patients have demonstrated thought-controlled cursor navigation and robotic arm manipulation — genuine breakthroughs, although ethicists and regulators have raised questions about privacy and long-term safety.
**The Boring Company**
Frustrated by traffic, Musk founded The Boring Company in 2016, initially as a SpaceX subsidiary, with grand promises of transforming urban transportation through a network of underground tunnels. The reality has been more modest. Its most prominent project — a tunnel beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center — has drawn mixed reviews, with critics noting it amounts to a narrow underground road for Tesla cars rather than the revolutionary transit system Musk once envisioned.
© 2024 AFP
