This is not comprehensive, and focuses on his entrepreneurial efforts. All ages are approximate.
1971—Born June 28; grew up in Pretoria, South Africa.[127]
1984 (age 12)—Created his first video game, called Blast Star.[128]
1989 (age 17)—Emigrated from South Africa to Canada, worked odd jobs on farms.[129]
1990 (age 18)—Attended Queen’s University in Ontario.[129]
1992 (age 20)—Transferred to University of Pennsylvania, studied physics and engineering.[129]
1994 (age 23)—Completed two internships: Pinnacle research working on high energy density capacitors for electric cars,[3] and a video game company (ironically) called Rocket Science.[57]
1995 (age 24)—Moved to California. Enrolled in Stanford’s physics PhD program, but deferred. Started Zip2, building software for maps, directories, and publishing online.[131]
1999 (age 28)—Sold Zip2 for $307 million cash to Compaq (who owned AltaVista). Personal proceeds of ~$22 million.[128]
1999 (age 28)—Started X.com, investing $12 million of his money.[128][171]
2000 (age 29)—X.com merged with Confinity (founded by Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Luke Nosek) to form PayPal.[139]
2001 (age 30)—Contracted malaria while on a safari in South Africa. Almost died.[52]
2002 (age 31)—Sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion. Personal proceeds after tax were ~$170million.[140] Founded SpaceX.[141]
2004 (age 33)—Invested $6.5 million in Tesla Motors, leading the Series A.[128]
2005 (age 34)—Invested millions more into Tesla Motors, leading the Series B.[142]
2006 (age 35)—Invested more millions into Tesla Motors, coleading Series C.[143]
2008 (age 37)—Falcon becomes the first privately developed rocket to reach orbit.[46]
2008 (age 37)—Invested more than $15 million, the remainder of his net worth, into Tesla Motors, leading the Series D. Became CEO of Tesla.[144]
2012 (age 41)—First sale of the new Tesla Model S.[146]
2014 (age 43)—Co-founded Astra Nova, an online nonprofit school.[186]
2015 (age 44)—First reusable orbital rocket booster landed by SpaceX.[179]
2015 (age 44)—Co-founded a nonprofit called OpenAI.[187]
2016 (age 45)—Co-founded Neuralink.[168]
2017 (age 46)—First Tesla Model 3 delivered.[147]
2017 (age 46)—SpaceX achieved world's first successful flight of a reused rocket.[167]
2020 (age 49)—First crewed SpaceX flight carries astronauts to the International Space Station.[148]
2021 (age 50)—Becomes richest person in the world (for the first time).[150] Named Time Person of the Year.[149]
2022 (age 51)—Acquired Twitter (now called X) for $44 billion.
2023 (age 53)—Founded xAI to advance AI development, competing with OpenAI.
2023 (age 53)—FDA approved Neuralink for human trials.
2024 (age 54)—First human receives Neuralink brain implant.[169]
2024 (age 54)—Starship’s first-stage booster is caught by launch tower “chopsticks.”
2025 (age 55)—Created a city called Starbase, Texas.[188]
2025 (age 55)—Net worth exceeded $500 billion in October, the first person to do so.[192]