I'm not sure where your dates came from, they don't match what I've read. From what I can tell, the Musks' lost majority share in '96 (and Elon was replaced as CEO). Regardless, the business was built around businesses paying to appear from basically the get-go, and while Musk was not CEO for most of the company's existence, he still had considerable influence and when he disagreed with the company's direction, he led a coup to get the CEO replaced. Arguing that he didn't have influence or agree with the company's direction seems not particularly based in reality.