Elon Musk has become the first person in the world to be worth $500 billion, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker.
He reached this feat on Wednesday afternoon after Tesla’s stock price rose by nearly 4 percent, adding $9.3 billion to his fortune.
Tesla’s stock has nearly doubled since Musk announced in April that he would step back from his role in President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency to focus more on Tesla.
With the electric carmaker’s market value now close to its all-time high, Musk’s 12 percent stake in the company is now valued at $191 billion, according to Forbes. The platform noted that his CEO 2018 compensation package could add another $133 billion to his fortune. However, the business magazine has currently discounted this amount pending the outcome of ongoing legal appeals.
Tesla is not the only source of wealth for Musk. His space company, SpaceX, is now worth $400 billion, based on a private tender offer in August. Musk’s 42 percent stake is now worth about $168 billion.
Musk also owns a majority stake in xAI Holdings, the company he formed in March by merging the new artificial intelligence company with X, formerly known as Twitter. That merger valued the combined company at $113 billion, with Musk’s 53 percent stake worth $60 billion.
Musk, who became the first person ever worth $400 billion or more in December, is now halfway to becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
In March 2020, he was worth just $24.6 billion but became the fifth person ever worth $100 billion in August 2020 as Tesla shares soared. In January 2021, he became the world’s richest person for the first time with a net worth of about $190 billion. In September that year, the South Africa-born became the third person ever worth $200 billion, following Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault of LVMH. Musk subsequently reached $300 billion in November 2021 and $400 billion in December 2024.
If things continue this way, Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire before March 2033, when the first of two vesting dates for a $1 trillion Tesla pay package arrives.
