Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Nov 26, 2025

Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson said to be nearing completion

Elon Musk biography by Walter Isaacson said to be nearing completion

Isaacson describes his bio of Musk as, 'the best story in America….a straight narrative'

Best-selling author Walter Isaacson, who has penned biographies on business and historical figures, is said to be moving toward finishing his book on Elon Musk, sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell Fox Business.

One person with direct knowledge of the matter said Isaacson is close to concluding a rough "sketched out" draft of his tome about the erratic and iconic billionaire, though there could be further revisions that delays the process.

"He’s looking to put a bow on it," the person with knowledge of the matter described Isaacson’s task at hand. "He’s about two chapters away."

Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on February 10, 2022. - Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk delivered an eagerly-awaited update on SpaceX's Starship, a prot

Fox Business has learned Isaacson expects the book will be finished by the fall, but his biggest hurdle is figuring out how to end it because Musk is constantly making news, and his various ventures, whether it’s Tesla, or his latest big move, his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, remain in constant flux. It’s unclear if his publisher, Simon & Schuster will release the book in 2023 or 2024.

The sweeping biography will span most of Musk’s life and business accomplishments, from running Tesla, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, SpaceX that seeks to explore the universe, to his contentious acquisition of Twitter that closed last fall.

Isaacson declined to comment. He has described his Musk bio as "the best story in America….a straight narrative" and that he went into the writing of it "without any bias," according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

In July 2021, Fox Business was first to report that Isaacson was in talks with Musk to write a biography on the person who was then the world’s richest man as Tesla became one of the market’s hottest stocks. Musk agreed to give Isaacson access, including interviews and observing him while at work.

Musk, known for his enormous wealth, and irreverent style as he developed cutting-edge businesses, seemed like a perfect subject for Isaacson, who wrote a best-selling biography on Steve Jobs, the creative genius behind another transformational business, Apple.

Walter Isaacson, the world's preeminent biographer, is penning the final touches to a biography on Elon Musk.


But much has happened since Isaacson began following Musk and putting pen to paper. When Isaacson started reporting on Musk, the Tesla CEO was regarded with Jobs-like admiration among investors and the media for advancing a potentially revolutionary business and becoming the world’s richest man in the process.

Musk is no longer the world’s richest man. That distinction now goes to LVMH co-founder Bernard Arnault, and his Musk’s precipitous decline in wealth ($200 billion in about a year) can be directly attributed to some high-profile business missteps.

What looked like an electric vehicle revolution has stalled. Tesla’s shares have been in a free fall for much of the past year. Musk’s on-again, off-again, on-again pursuit of Twitter ended with him wildly overpaying for a platform that often loses money. He was forced to sell his Tesla stock into its own downdraft to finance the acquisition.

He is now being confronted by angry Tesla shareholders, who have seen the value of their stock decline more than 50% over the past year compared to a nearly 2% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Tesla, meanwhile, remains the biggest store of his enormous wealth, now estimated at $159 billion.

Walter Isaacson's biggest problem: figuring out where to end the book given the constant flux of Elon Musk's business ventures including the acquisition of Twitter and a possible successor at Tesla.


While Musk has won praise for opening up Twitter to more conservative voices after the social-media company was accused of censorship, his erratic management style has depressed morale at the platform. He initially fired workers and was forced to hire some back. Musk has said that reviving Twitter’s business might not happen, and he has spoken about the possibility of placing the company in bankruptcy.

Regulators are circling as well; Tesla faces numerous government probes, and Musk on Monday was giving testimony in a federal class-action lawsuit over his infamous 2018 tweet that claimed he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at a significant premium to where it was trading.

The funding never materialized; regulators charged Musk with civil securities fraud. He settled without admitting or denying wrongdoing, but paid a $40 million fine, resigned as Tesla chairman, and agreed to have his tweets monitored, which he continues to flout.

How Isaacson concludes a story that may never conclude could force more re-write and delays, people with knowledge of the matter say. "The problem for Walter is that Elon keeps making news," one person close to the author told Fox Business.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Economy Stalls as Reeves Faces First Budget Test
UK Economy’s Weak Start Adds Pressure on Prime Minister Starmer
UK Government Acknowledges Billionaire Exodus Amid Tax Rise Concerns
UK Budget 2025: Markets Brace as Chancellor Faces Fiscal Tightrope
UK Unveils Strategic Plan to Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains
UK Taskforce Calls for Radical Reset of Nuclear Regulation to Cut Costs and Accelerate Build
UK Government Launches Consultation on Major Overhaul of Settlement Rules
Google Struggles to Meet AI Demand as Infrastructure, Energy and Supply-Chain Gaps Deepen
Car Parts Leader Warns Europe Faces Heavy Job Losses in ‘Darwinian’ Auto Shake-Out
Arsenal Move Six Points Clear After Eze’s Historic Hat-Trick in Derby Rout
Wealthy New Yorkers Weigh Second Homes as the ‘Mamdani Effect’ Ripples Through Luxury Markets
Families Accuse OpenAI of Enabling ‘AI-Driven Delusions’ After Multiple Suicides
UK Unveils Critical-Minerals Strategy to Break China Supply-Chain Grip
Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” Extends U.K. No. 1 Run to Five Weeks
UK VPN Sign-Ups Surge by Over 1,400 % as Age-Verification Law Takes Effect
Former MEP Nathan Gill Jailed for Over Ten Years After Taking Pro-Russia Bribes
Majority of UK Entrepreneurs Regard Government as ‘Anti-Business’, Survey Shows
UK’s Starmer and US President Trump Align as Geneva Talks Probe Ukraine Peace Plan
UK Prime Minister Signals Former Prince Andrew Should Testify to US Epstein Inquiry
Royal Navy Deploys HMS Severn to Shadow Russian Corvette and Tanker Off UK Coast
China’s Wedding Boom: Nightclubs, Mountains and a Demographic Reset
Fugees Founding Member Pras Michel Sentenced to 14 Years in High-Profile US Foreign Influence Case
WhatsApp’s Unexpected Rise Reshapes American Messaging Habits
United States: Judge Dressed Up as Elvis During Hearings – and Was Forced to Resign
Johnson Blasts ‘Incoherent’ Covid Inquiry Findings Amid Report’s Harsh Critique of His Government
Lord Rothermere Secures £500 Million Deal to Acquire Telegraph Titles
Maduro Tightens Security Measures as U.S. Strike Threat Intensifies
U.S. Envoys Deliver Ultimatum to Ukraine: Sign Peace Deal by Thursday or Risk Losing American Support
Zelenskyy Signals Progress Toward Ending the War: ‘One of the Hardest Moments in History’ (end of his business model?)
U.S. Issues Alert Declaring Venezuelan Airspace a Hazard Due to Escalating Security Conditions
The U.S. State Department Announces That Mass Migration Constitutes an Existential Threat to Western Civilization and Undermines the Stability of Key American Allies
Students Challenge AI-Driven Teaching at University of Staffordshire
Pikeville Medical Center Partners with UK’s Golisano Children’s Network to Expand Pediatric Care
Germany, France and UK Confirm Full Support for Ukraine in US-Backed Security Plan
UK Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods Face Rising Backlash as Pandemic Schemes Unravel
UK Records Coldest Night of Autumn as Sub-Zero Conditions Sweep the Country
UK at Risk of Losing International Doctors as Workforce Exodus Grows, Regulator Warns
ASU Launches ASU London, Extending Its Innovation Brand to the UK Education Market
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Visit China in January as Diplomatic Reset Accelerates
Google Launches Voluntary Buyouts for UK Staff Amid AI-Driven Company Realignment
UK braces for freezing snap as snow and ice warnings escalate
Majority of UK Novelists Fear AI Could Displace Their Work, Cambridge Study Finds
UK's Carrier Strike Group Achieves Full Operational Capability During NATO Drill in Mediterranean
Trump and Mamdani to Meet at the White House: “The Communist Asked”
Nvidia Again Beats Forecasts, Shares Jump in After-Hours Trading
Wintry Conditions Persist Along UK Coasts After Up to Seven Centimetres of Snow
UK Inflation Eases to 3.6 % in October, Opening Door for Rate Cut
UK Accelerates Munitions Factory Build-Out to Reinforce Warfighting Readiness
UK Consumer Optimism Plunges Ahead of November Budget
A Decade of Innovation Stagnation at Apple: The Cook Era Critique
×