A record financial milestone
South African-born billionaire businessman Elon Musk, the brains behind Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, continues to make history. Musk has been the first person to hit a net worth of $500 billion, Forbes’ live billionaire tracker says. The feat was achieved on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET, thanks to the uptick in Tesla shares and appreciation in his other businesses.
Musk has been the richest individual in the world for some time now, but this new record places him in a very different league. His net worth at the end of Wednesday’s trading was $499.1 billion—just shy of the half-trillion mark but still a record ever achieved by anyone.
From $24 billion to $500 billion
Musk’s accumulation of this humongous fortune has not been tardy. His value in 2020 was approximately $24.6 billion. Tesla’s stock price climbed that year, and Musk became one of the select group of billionaires whose value topped $100 billion.
As of January 2021, Musk initially became the world’s richest individual with nearly $190 billion. In September of the same year, he crossed over $200 billion, joining the group along with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and luxury brands mogul Bernard Arnault.
Just two months later, in November 2021, Musk reached $300 billion and $400 billion in December 2024. Currently, in 2025, he crossed the unimaginable $500 billion.
What pushed him over the edge?
The most recent injection of wealth into Musk’s coffers was a 4% jump in Tesla stocks that added nearly $9.3 billion to his net worth within a day. Another factor was his resignation this year from President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which allowed him some freedom to concentrate entirely on making Tesla profitable.
Although he is very rich, Musk has insisted that money is not the most important thing to him. In September last year, he tweeted on X (formerly Twitter):
“This isn’t about compensation. It’s about having enough leverage over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots.”
Where Musk’s wealth comes from
- Most of Musk’s fortune is in Tesla. His 12% stake in the company is worth approximately $191 billion. He has performance stock awards, too, although some remain in legal uncertainty following a Delaware court ruling.
- His second most precious holding is his personal rocket space company, SpaceX, which he founded in 2002. SpaceX, in a recent private transaction, is worth around $400 billion, and its 42% interest is worth around $168 billion.
Musk’s third biggest holding is xAI Holdings, his artificial intelligence firm that was merged with social media platform X. They are worth a total of $113 billion, for a $60 billion holding for Musk.
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Can Musk be the world’s first trillionaire?
Musk will be the world’s first trillionaire in 2033 at this rate. This largely depends on Tesla’s growth and his expensive performance-based compensation packages. Even Tesla’s board has presented him with a package in which he will receive an extra $1 billion of stock if the company meets certain goals, like spectacular market value gains.
The billionaire scoreboard today
Musk’s behind by means. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is now the second-richest, at $350 billion. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is third at $246 billion.
Musk’s more than $150 billion advantage shows just how far ahead of the rest of the business giants he is.
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More than money
For Musk, becoming a $500 billion person is more about aspirations, not money. His thoughts are still preoccupied with technology, space, and AI. He’s still testing Tesla to innovate beyond boundaries, SpaceX to make humanity multiplanetary, and xAI to be the best AI.
Although his contribution has been questioned by critics, there is one thing that is certain: Elon Musk has authored new books on individual wealth. His transformation from an initial $24 billion in 2020 to $500 billion now is a phenomenon the world has never seen before.
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