Tech

World’s Richest Man Reveals He Lives in a Trailer

TRAILER TYCOON

The billionaire moved to Memphis to be close to the construction of xAI’s Macrohard data center.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023.
Gonzalo Fuentes/Gonzalo Fuentes, Reuters

Elon Musk, whose net worth is edging towards $1 trillion, has revealed that he moved into a trailer home in Tennessee.

The world’s richest man is temporarily living in Memphis while overseeing construction of xAI’s massive Macrohard data center—and offered a glimpse inside his modest new digs during a video appearance at a summit hosted by the tech podcast All-In.

“I am coming to you today from the palace that I live in in Memphis, which is an Airstream trailer,” Musk said.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell replied, “This is Elon, by the way, doing what people don’t believe he does: He sleeps on the factory floor. He’s in Memphis helping build buildings.”

SpaceX acquired xAI for $250 billion earlier this year, and Musk said he would rather sleep steps from the new servers than commute.

Muskliving in an Airstream trailer is very on-brand for the space fanatic, as NASA famously used it to quarantine the Apollo 11 astronauts after their return from the moon.

Airstream trailer.
Airstream trailer. Albert L. Ortega/Albert L. Ortega, WireImage

The SpaceX CEO also has a long history of sleeping at or near his workspaces.

After acquiring X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, he slept intermittently on a couch for months at its San Francisco headquarters. For years, his primary residence was a modest $50,000 rented house in Boca Chica, Texas, one block away from SpaceX’s Starbase facility.

In 2020, Musk posted to what was then Twitter: “I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.”

He then sold seven of his California homes for nearly $130 million.

In 2024, the New York Times reported that Musk had bought a cluster of three mansions in Austin for about $35 million.

His appearance at the All-In event also sparked fresh speculation about a potential merger between Tesla and SpaceX. Musk did not rule out the possibility of joining his two flagship companies.

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, speaks via video before the ringing of the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite at the launch of the company's initial public offering on June 12, 2026, in New York City.
Musk previously declared that he was selling all his possessions and did not want to own a house. Spencer Platt/Spencer Platt, Getty Images

“With all this collaboration on so many levels, you can imagine an action one might take when there is so much close collaboration in so many areas,” he said.

Musk’s appearance on Monday came as Alex Gibney’s new documentary, Musk, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The four-hour documentary paints Musk in a less-than-favorable light. The tech magnate is cast as a “chaotic” force for evil who may have rigged the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

In response to the film, Musk posted to his platform X: “It’s a hit piece that misses and makes the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours.”

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