Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has donated more to Trump’s campaign than anyone else, pouring in about $200 million and campaigning alongside the president-elect.
Justin Merriman/Bloomberg
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has become the first person to have a net worth of over $400 billion. His assets (the largest of which are Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI) were worth an estimated $428 billion as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to Forbes estimates. That makes Mr. Musk worth more than any billionaire Forbes has tracked in the nearly 40 years it has published its list of the world’s billionaires.
Musk’s net worth increased after Forbes confirmed on Wednesday that SpaceX and its investors had agreed to buy back insider shares in a deal that values the rocket company at $350 billion, as first reported by Bloomberg. It jumped $58 billion on Wednesday. At this valuation, Musk’s estimated 42% stake would be worth $147 billion, more than 60% more than SpaceX’s previous tender offer earlier this year, which valued the company at $210 billion. The new valuation makes SpaceX the world’s most valuable private company, ahead of TikTok parent ByteDance, ChatGPT developer OpenAI, and payments giant Stripe.
“What’s really crazy about this is that very few investors wanted to sell their stock, even at a $350 billion valuation. SpaceX is buying back shares from employees to accommodate some new investors. Musk wrote Wednesday about Company X, in which he owns an estimated 75% stake.
This marks another golden milestone for Musk. Musk’s net worth has increased by more than $150 billion since January 1, 2024. This is partly due to SpaceX’s soaring valuation, but also because of Musk’s 13% stake in Tesla (excluding options). The bulk of his net worth (his stocks excluding options are currently worth about $170 billion), and an estimated 54% of his stake in the artificial intelligence startup xAI, is owned by individual investors as of November 2024. reportedly valued it at $50 billion. The electric car company’s stock has soared more than 70% since the Nov. 5 presidential election. CEO Musk has forged an increasingly close relationship with President-elect Trump, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars and countless hours into his campaign and Cabinet nomination process. He will also serve in the new administration as co-director of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will advise on ways to reduce federal spending. It could play a role in regulations affecting Musk’s company.
It wasn’t all good news for Musk. In early 2024, a Delaware judge invalidated a 2018 deal to receive options for an additional 9% of Tesla shares, worth about $56 billion at the time. Even though Tesla shareholders voted in June to reauthorize Musk’s option compensation package, the same judge reaffirmed that decision last week. Forbes has discounted the option by 50% pending Musk’s appeal, giving it a discounted valuation of nearly $60 billion.
Musk, who has moved in and out of the ranks as the richest person on the planet in recent years, is now worth about $180 billion more than the world’s second-richest person, Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos. French luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault, whose wealth has slumped this year, previously held the title of the world’s richest man, but overtook Musk in January as Tesla’s stock price fell. In late May, fueled by the rise in Tesla stock, Musk once again became the world’s richest person, a title he has held ever since.
Thanks to the soaring value of SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI, Musk may remain the world’s richest person for some time to come, given the wide gap between him and Bezos. If his wealth continues to grow at the same pace through 2024 (which is, of course, unlikely), he could become a trillionaire by the end of the decade.
