To give him credit where it's due, Elon is a massive gambler and risk taker. SpaceX was a huge gamble. As funny as it was to meme "Just blow up rockets until you get it right", that approach almost bankrupted him. The gamble payed off when mixed with Starlink. He's also unscrupulous in his stock market manipulation, and as part of the PayPal founders he's built some incredibly profitable and predatory anti-consumer practices (anyone who had to deal with PayPal can agree). Fitting for a South African.
Also he was very careful in how he manipulated his image as the new Howard Hughes/Tony stark of space and innovation, to become himself inseparable from his investments. That helps. Look at some of his cameos in normie media.