FMNN INVESTIGATES · OPINION & ANALYSIS
Elon Musk sells a self-made story. The record starts in apartheid-era Pretoria, runs through two companies that removed him as CEO, and lands at a car company two other men founded.
By Joseph J. Jackson, Founder of FMNN and author of The Death of the American Dream. Published Nov. 5, 2026. Facts current as of Nov. 4, 2026.
The short version
Musk grew up upper middle class in Pretoria and left South Africa at 17, in part, he has said, to avoid military conscription.
Zip2's investors and PayPal's board both removed him as CEO. He left Zip2 with about $22 million and PayPal with about $180 million.
Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Musk pushed Eberhard out in 2007 and won the "co-founder" title in a 2009 lawsuit settlement.
The Subsidy King: a five-part FMNN Investigates series
From Pretoria to Tesla (you are here)
The phone call
Two days before Christmas 2008, Elon Musk was close to broke. SpaceX had blown up three rockets before its fourth reached orbit that September. Tesla was close to bankruptcy. Musk later said he had virtually no money left, and that a fourth failure would have been "game over." [1]
Then NASA called. On Dec. 23, 2008, the agency awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract to fly cargo to the International Space Station. "I couldn't even hold the phone," Musk told 60 Minutes. "I just blurted out, 'I love you guys!'" [2]
"They saved you," correspondent Scott Pelley said.
"Yeah, they did," Musk answered. [2]
That exchange is the whole story in two lines. The world's richest man sells himself as the self-made rebel who beat the government. The record shows a man the government kept saving, then a man who went inside the government to cut the agencies that police him. Today, SpaceX rockets lift off from Florida's Space Coast on contracts paid for by the same taxpayers who are told there's no money left for them.
The ledger
SAID: Musk has criticized government subsidies and argued the electric vehicle tax credit should be eliminated. In 2025, as head of DOGE, he led the push to cut federal spending he called wasteful. (Documented, Tier 2. Benzinga; The Washington Post [3][4])
DID: Musk and his companies received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits since 2003. Nearly two-thirds came in the past five years. (Documented, Tier 2. Washington Post analysis, Feb. 2025 [4])
RESULT: SpaceX went public June 12, 2026, in the largest IPO in history, raising $75 billion at a $1.77 trillion valuation. Musk became the world's first trillionaire on paper. (Documented, Tier 2. Reuters; Business Today [5][6])
GAP: The man in charge of cutting "wasteful" federal spending was one of its biggest beneficiaries. DOGE went after all seven agencies where his companies held active contracts. (Documented. The Washington Post [4])
KNEW: Musk, on whether NASA's 2008 contract saved SpaceX: "Yeah, they did." (Documented, Tier 1. 60 Minutes, via SpaceNews [2])
SAID AFTER: The White House said in 2025 that any Musk contracts "will comply with every government ethics rule." (Documented, Tier 1. White House spokesman Harrison Fields, via The Washington Post [4])
The 60 Minutes answer is Tier 1. Musk said it himself, on camera.
What you need to know
This is an opinion and analysis piece, and Part 1 of a five-part series. The series argues that Elon Musk's empire was built on public money and private promises, and that he used a government job to protect it. Every fact under that argument comes from the record. Where the record is disputed, we say so.
One thing up front, because it gets said a lot: Musk's companies are not fake. SpaceX rockets fly. Tesla builds cars and repaid its federal loan early. The case against Musk doesn't need exaggeration. What the record shows is dependence: on taxpayer money at the moments he was failing, on regulators he later tried to defang, and on promises that were sold years before they were delivered, if they ever were.
Pretoria
Elon Reeve Musk was born June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa, during apartheid. His mother, Maye, was a model and dietitian. His father, Errol, was an engineer and property developer. Reporting describes the family as upper middle class. [7] After his parents divorced, Elon mostly lived with his father in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The emerald mine. The story that Errol's emerald mine paid for Elon's rise has followed him for years. Musk himself told AskMen in 2014 that his father "had a share in an emerald mine in Zambia." In 2019 he reversed course: "He didn't own an emerald mine & I worked my way through college, ending up ~$100k in student debt." [8] His biographer, Walter Isaacson, wrote in 2023 that Errol never owned a mine. [8] Errol has since said he traded emeralds and made a lot of money doing it. [9]
FMNN treats the mine as unproven. What is documented is enough: Musk did not grow up poor, and his own account of his family's money has changed.
Leaving. In June 1989, at 17, Musk left for Canada on a passport he got through his Canadian-born mother. He has said he left "in part, in order to avoid conscription in the army." "Spending two years suppressing Black people doesn't seem to be a great use of time," he added. [10] He studied at Queen's University in Ontario, then the University of Pennsylvania.
Pushed out, paid out
Musk's first two companies ended the same way: he was removed as CEO, and he walked away rich.
Zip2. In 1995, Musk and his brother Kimbal started Zip2, an online city guide. Ashlee Vance's 2015 biography reports that their father put in about $28,000 to get it going; Elon has disputed that Errol funded him. [11][12] Investors installed a different CEO. Compaq bought Zip2 in 1999 for $307 million, and Musk's share was about $22 million. [13]
PayPal. Musk put that money into X.com, an online bank, which merged with its rival Confinity in March 2000. In September 2000, while Musk was on a delayed honeymoon, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin and other executives persuaded the board to remove him as CEO. [14] He kept his stake. When eBay bought PayPal in 2002, Musk's take was about $180 million, money he later said he "bet it all" on SpaceX and Tesla. [15]
Twice ousted, twice paid. That is the pattern this story follows: the failures were real, and somebody else's money covered them.
The company he didn't start
Tesla Motors was founded in July 2003 by two engineers, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Eberhard became its first CEO. [16] Musk came in early as the lead investor and chairman. For years, company press releases credited him with leading funding rounds, not founding the company. [17]
On Nov. 30, 2007, Tesla announced Eberhard would "transition to advisory board." Fortune reported that Musk, the chairman, had asked him to leave. [16] Tarpenning left soon after. Musk took over as CEO in 2008.
In June 2009, Eberhard sued Musk for libel, slander and breach of contract. He alleged Musk pushed him out, trashed him publicly and wrongly called himself a founder. [16] A judge let the case move forward, except the founder claim. [18] It settled that September. The terms were secret, but the result wasn't: Tesla now named five co-founders, Musk included, and the two sides signed a non-disparagement agreement. [19]
So the inventor who started Tesla was gagged, and the investor who pushed him out got the founder's title in a legal settlement. Eberhard told an interviewer in 2025 he was disappointed that Musk scrapped Tesla's planned $25,000 car and built a "dumpster-looking" truck instead. [20]
Reality of the Situation
What his defenders say: Musk is a self-made genius who built everything he owns.
What the record says:
"Self-made." Partly true. Musk took real risks and put his own PayPal money on the line. He also started with a comfortable upbringing, seed money his father reportedly provided, and two exits from companies that removed him as CEO. [11][13][14]
"These are fake companies." False, and FMNN won't say it. The companies are real. The dependence is real too.
Voices of Resistance
For years, Martin Eberhard was called "Mr. Tesla." He co-founded the company, ran it as its first CEO, and helped design the Roadster that made it famous. After Musk pushed him out, Eberhard sued. The settlement left Musk with a founder's title and Eberhard with a non-disparagement clause he has cited when declining to discuss Musk. [19][21] He has still spoken about the cars, and about the $25,000 Tesla he says the company was supposed to build. [20] The man who started Tesla was paid to stop talking about the man who took it over.
Next, in Part 2: how NASA and the Energy Department kept SpaceX and Tesla alive in 2008, and what Musk promised once they did. Read Part 2
Sources
Republic World, on Musk's 60 Minutes account of 2008 — https://www.republicworld.com/science/space/nasa-2008-contract-saved-spacex-from-fourth-straight-failure-admits-elon-musk ; Space Odyssey Hub, Falcon 1 Flight 4, Sept. 28, 2008 — https://spaceodysseyhub.com/tools/space-race-timeline/2008-09-28
SpaceNews, on Musk's 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley — https://spacenews.com/?p=14891
Benzinga, "Report Says Elon Musk's Businesses Have Been Awarded $38 Billion…," Mar. 3, 2025 — https://www.itiger.com/news/2516463732
Desmond Butler, Trisha Thadani and colleagues, "Elon Musk's business empire is built on $38 billion in government funding," The Washington Post, Feb. 26, 2025 — https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/elon-musk-business-government-contracts-funding/ ; congressional record copy — https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20250226/117956/HMKP-119-JU00-20250226-SD003.pdf
Reuters via Profit (Pakistan Today), "SpaceX tops $2tr valuation in Nasdaq debut after record $75bn IPO," June 13, 2026 — https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2026/06/13/spacex-tops-dollar2tr-valuation-in-nasdaq-debut-after-record-dollar75bn-ipo
Business Today, "SpaceX shares make Nasdaq debut after historic IPO," June 12, 2026 — https://businesstoday.in/markets/stocks/story/spacex-shares-make-nasdaq-debut-after-historic-ipo-check-listing-price-marketcap-536680-2026-06-12
Newstalk ZB, on Musk's family background — https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/elon-musk-will-give-a-million-doge-to-anyone-who-can-provide-evidence-of-emerald-mine-rumour/
Business Insider via Yahoo, on Isaacson and the emerald mine — https://ca.news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-really-telling-truth-105244327.html
Daily Investor, on Errol Musk and emeralds — https://dailyinvestor.com/business/69589/big-revelation-about-elon-musk-and-his-fathers-alleged-emerald-mine/
Snopes via Yahoo, "Fact Check: Yes, Musk left South Africa in part to avoid compulsory military service" — https://www.yahoo.com/news/fact-check-yes-musk-left-013000293.html
Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (Ecco, 2015), on the $28,000; summarized at https://sitebuilderreport.com/origin-stories/elon-musk
People, "Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? All About Errol Musk" (Elon's denial that Errol invested)
Wikipedia, "Business career of Elon Musk" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_career_of_Elon_Musk
Snopes, "Was Elon Musk Fired From PayPal?" — https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/was-elon-musk-fired-from-paypal/ ; Fox Business, citing Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk (2023) — https://foxbusiness.com/markets/elon-musk-dethroned-peter-thiel-coup-led-paypal-mafia
Republic World, on the $180 million from the PayPal sale — https://www.republicworld.com/science/space/nasa-2008-contract-saved-spacex-from-fourth-straight-failure-admits-elon-musk
Wikipedia, "Martin Eberhard," citing Fortune and The New York Times — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Eberhard
Greentech Media, "As Tesla Settles Lawsuit, Five Founders Emerge," 2009 — https://greentechmedia.com/amp/article/news-flash-there-are-five-founders-of-tesla-motors
Autoblog, Eberhard lawsuit coverage, 2009 — https://www.autoblog.com/tag/martin%20eberhard/
Market Realist, "Two Men Created Tesla, So Why Does It Have Five Co-Founders?," Dec. 8, 2021 — https://marketrealist.com/p/who-really-founded-tesla
Electrek, "Tesla founder is disappointed Musk canceled $25,000 EV and made 'dumpster-looking' truck," July 28, 2025 — https://electrek.co/2025/07/28/tesla-founder-disapointed-musk-canceled-25000-ev-dumpster-lookin-truck/
42HOW (translating Business Insider's Eberhard interview) — https://en.42how.com/?p=18040