That may be his goal, but even all of his money is orders of magnitude less than what it would take for either a small colony or a manned mission with return. S

That may be his goal, but even all of his money is orders of magnitude less than what it would take for either a small colony or a manned mission with return. See sibling post about NASA annual budget, relatively small though it is, still blowing away SpaceX's market cap and Elon's personal wealth. Elon also hasn't just blown money senselessly on longshots or unsustainable one-offs, like a private Mars mission would be. SpaceX and Tesla both have some innovative concepts and have advanced their respective fields, but both are also perfectly ordinary businesses in most regards, with very reasonable plans for revenue. I don't see any potential for revenue in travelling to Mars.