X.com merged with Confinity in March 2000. Confinity, co-founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, had built the PayPal payment product; X.com brought Musk’s online-finance business and his money. The merged company later took the PayPal name. [1]

In September 2000, the board replaced Musk as chief executive while he was traveling, an episode widely described as a coup during his honeymoon. Thiel became CEO. PayPal’s separation agreement with Musk, dated 4 May 2001 and filed with the SEC, records that he “resigned as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company effective September 24, 2000” and stayed an employee until March 2001. [2][3][4]

The same contract says the company “acknowledges and agrees that Mr. Musk is a founder of the Company and its predecessor X.com,” requires it to fix materials that list founders without him, and bars it from undermining that status. [2]

PayPal went public in February 2002, and eBay agreed that October to buy it for about $1.5 billion in stock. EBSCO puts Musk’s proceeds at about $172 million. He used that money to start SpaceX and back Tesla. [5][6]