Sarah Hooper
Published December 3, 2025 10:21am
Updated December 3, 2025 10:21am
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Musk is worth billions – does some of that go to charity? (Picture: Reuters)
The world’s richest man is quiet about what he does with his personal money, as well as the billions in his charitable foundation.
Elon Musk is worth an estimated $450 billion, made from his companies Tesla, Neuralink, SpaceX and others.
The Musk Foundation website says grants are made in support of renewable energy research, human space exploration, pediatric research, science and engineering education, and safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.
All of these initiatives align directly with Musk’s for-profit businesses – a fact which has raised some eyebrows, the New York Times pointed out.
And in an interview earlier this week, Musk said: ‘It’s very easy to give money away to get the appearance of goodness. It is very difficult to give money away for the reality of goodness.’
Last year, his foundation gave away $474 million (Picture: Reuters)
‘The biggest challenge I find with my foundation is trying to give money away in a way that is truly beneficial to people.
‘I have a large foundation, but I don’t put my name on it,’ he added.
For the fourth year in a row, it’s been revealed that the Musk Foundation hasn’t given away the minimum amount required by law.
5% of a private foundation’s assets must be given away each year. If that target is missed, they have to donate the amount during the next year.
Given Musk hasn’t reached the minimum for the past four years, they have a lot of catching up to do.
Last year, the estimated $14billion charity gave away $474 million. The New York Times found that $370 million of that number was given to a nonprofit in Texas, which benefits Musk’s businesses in Texas, operating an elementary school near where many of his employees live.
The foundation itself is run by Musk and two volunteers, one of whom works only six minutes per week, tax filings found. The website has no contact information.
He has made some donations not tied to his businesses directly, however. After a SpaceX rocket blew up, he donated millions to Cameron County, Texas, to help rebuild.
Since creating the Musk Foundation in the early 2000s, donations have also been made to OpenAI (when it was a nonprofit), the Sierra Club, Oxfam and the Clinton Foundation.
Metro has contacted Elon Musk’s representatives and an email tied to the Musk Foundation for comment.
How does Musk’s charity compare to other billionaires?
MacKenzie Scott has given away billions out of her fortune (Picture: AP)
Musk’s contributions to charity are a drop in the bucket compared to others with his stature.
MacKenzie Scott, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, has given away billions after her divorce from the magnate.
Her donations from her organisation, Yield Giving, have given $19billion to non-profits focused on diversity and inclusion, education and disaster recovery.
Bill Gates, another tech CEO, runs the Gates Foundation with his wife, Melinda. In the first 25 years of the foundation’s existence, it gave more than $100 billion away.
Earlier this year, Mr Gates announced that for the next two decades, he would give away the entirety of his wealth.
How much is Musk worth, and how did he make his money?
The businessman made his money through a variety of ventures (Picture: Reuters)
The world’s richest man is worth an estimated $480 billion, an astounding figure which is hard to fathom.
As well as owning a string of companies, including SpaceX, Tesla and now, Twitter, Elon Musk made his money through a variety of other means, too.
After dropping out of his PhD in 1995, he and his younger brother joined forces to go into business together, where they built an internet city guide software company called Zip2.
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Despite it being his first foray into business amid the internet boom, the pair’s venture was bought by computer giant Compaq for $307 million (£243.2 million), while Elon received $22 million (£17.4 million) from the deal.
After his departure from Confinity, Musk founded rocket-building company SpaceX in 2002. Despite admitting it was one of the ‘dumbest and hardest ways to make money’, the entrepreneur has continued to work on SpaceX and its missions.
Just two years after SpaceX was founded, Musk invested in electric car powerhouse Tesla, which was originally known as Tesla Motors.
He also founded Neuralink in 2016, which is worth billions. And, on April 25, 2022, the businessman bought Twitter for $44 billion (£34 billion).
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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