Elon Musk has become the first person in history to reach a net worth of half a trillion dollars, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker.
His wealth briefly crossed $500.1 billion on Wednesday afternoon before settling at $499.1 billion by market close.
Why is Elon so wealthy?
The surge in Musk’s fortune is driven primarily by Tesla, his electric vehicle company which saw its stock climb nearly 4% on Wednesday.
Musk owns about 12% of the electric carmaker, a stake now valued at $191 billion. Tesla shares nearly doubled in 2025, following Musk’s decision in April to step back from his political role in the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency and focus more directly on the company.
Musk’s wealth is also tied to SpaceX and xAI Holdings. SpaceX, the private rocket company he founded in 2002, was valued at $400 billion in a recent tender offer, giving Musk’s 42% stake an estimated worth of $168 billion.
His 53% stake in xAI Holdings, a merger of his artificial intelligence startup and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is currently worth around $60 billion, based on a $113 billion valuation.
Tesla’s board has also proposed a new pay package for Musk worth up to $1 trillion if he achieves what it calls “Mars-shot” milestones.
These include increasing Tesla’s market capitalization more than eightfold, selling one million AI robots, and producing an additional 12 million vehicles over the next decade.
Musk defended the scale of the proposal in a post on X last month, writing: “It’s not about compensation, but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.”
His rapid rise is unprecedented. In March 2020, Musk was worth $24.6 billion. He reached $100 billion later that year, $200 billion in 2021, $300 billion in November 2021, and $400 billion in December 2024. Wednesday’s milestone places him $150 billion ahead of the world’s second-richest person, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is currently worth $350.7 billion.
If Musk meets the conditions of Tesla’s proposed award, with the first vesting period scheduled to arrive in March 2033, this could potentially make him the world’s first trillionaire.
