That’s kind of not the reason they’re building SpaceX, and that’s why they’ve stated that they don’t want to go public until after they reach Mars - they don’t

That’s kind of not the reason they’re building SpaceX, and that’s why they’ve stated that they don’t want to go public until after they reach Mars - they don’t want people breathing down their neck about their (probably unprofitable) goal of helping humanity become multi planetary. Rich people usually amass wealth to give them the power to do what they want to do, but if you’re directly building a business to do what you want to do, and you already have enough money, then maximizing profit isn’t the goal, having it do what you want it to do is. Money is necessary for that, but it’s just the means to the end. But if you do that really well, then usually it’s worth a good amount.