Elon Musk was officially announced Wednesday as the first person in history to reach a net worth of $500 billion, surpassing all other living billionaires.
The figure was confirmed by Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire Tracker at 3:30 p.m. ET, confirming that Elon is $150 billion richer than Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as reported by Cryptopolitan. Mr. Ellison currently sits in second place after briefly defeating “Dogefather” just a few weeks ago.
The record comes less than a year after Elon crossed the $400 billion line in December, making it the highest personal wealth in history and putting him halfway to becoming the world’s first billionaire.
This happened after Tesla stock soared nearly 4% on the same day. This one-day increase increased Elon’s fortune by about $9.3 billion.
Back in April, Elon told investors during Tesla’s earnings call that he would step down from government service under President Donald Trump and refocus his efforts on Tesla. He was the Secretary of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Since then, Tesla stock has nearly doubled in value, bringing the company’s market capitalization within 10% of its all-time high valuation. Currently, Elon’s 12% stake in Tesla is valued at $191 billion, which doesn’t even include his massive performance-based stock option package from 2018, which would be worth an additional $133 billion today, but sadly a Delaware judge invalidated this award last year.
However, Elon has appealed this decision to the Delaware Supreme Court, and while the case proceeds, Forbes is discounting that portion of his wealth by 50%.
Tesla board proposes $1 trillion pay package pending appeal in court
While the 2018 stock grant remains in legal limbo, Tesla’s board introduced a new pay plan for Elon in September.
The proposed package could give him up to $1 trillion worth of stock, excluding taxes and stock unlock costs, if Tesla reaches extreme growth milestones. The plan includes a goal for Tesla to increase its market capitalization by more than eight times over the next 10 years.
“It’s not a ‘compensation’ issue, it’s that I have enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots,” Elon told X. “If in the future I’m forced out by an activist shareholder advisory firm that doesn’t even own Tesla stock, I’m not happy about that future.”
But Tesla wasn’t the only company that made the $500 billion figure possible. Elon also owns a large stake in the rocket company SpaceX, which he founded in 2002.
SpaceX’s private valuation jumped to $400 billion in August from $350 billion in December after a new tender offer. Elon owns 42% of SpaceX, a stake that is currently valued at $168 billion as of press time.
Added to that is xAI Holdings, the AI startup that Elon merged with X (formerly Twitter). The combined company is valued at $113 billion, with Elon owning 53%, which would be worth an additional $60 billion in his pocket.
Elon was worth $24.6 billion just five years ago in March 2020, but by August of the same year, he became the fifth person to reach $100 billion thanks to the rise in Tesla’s stock price.
In January 2021, Elon became one of the world’s richest people with a wealth of $190 billion, and in September 2021, he became the third person to surpass $200 billion after Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault. It then rose to $300 billion in November, and finally $400 billion in December 2024.