Jessica Mendoza

That company was called Zip2.

And when it sold, Musk walked away with about $22 million.

Musk's payments company combined with PayPal, making him more than $100 million in 2002.

From there, he went on to found or back a variety of different ventures.

He became an early investor in a small car company.

He launched the Boring Company, with a promise to build underground tunnels for cars that would solve traffic problems.

The Boring Company has struck agreements with a number of cities, though it's only completed one tunnel in Las Vegas.

Musk also co-founded Neuralink, a startup that's trying to develop brain implant technology.

And, of course, there's SpaceX.

Though the company's financial engine is Starlink, a satellite internet service, SpaceX promises to build towards commercial spaceflight.

By 2012, Musk had become a billionaire, and his wealth kept growing.

In 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world for the first time.

You know, for a long time, Musk was in that conversation along with people like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.

But those other guys are like down in the, it's crazy to say, down in the $200 billion range.

And Musk has, you know, clearly exploded beyond that.

When and sort of how did that start to happen?

At the time, his wealth was valued at $423 billion.

It's more than doubled since.

Is there a historic analog for this level of wealth for a single person?

Like, does Elon Musk have more money now than like John D. Rockefeller did in his time?