Main points
- Elon Musk became the first person in world history to be worth more than $500 billion, thanks to the rise in shares of Tesla and his other companies.
- Tesla shares rose 4%, and the board of directors offered Musk a new compensation package that could bring the stock worth up to $1 trillion.
Elon Musk has a billion-dollar fortune / Collage by Channel 24
Famous businessman Elon Musk has once again set a financial record. The entrepreneur is currently considered the first and only person who can boast a fortune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
Businessman Elon Musk is already halfway to becoming the world's first trillionaire, Channel 24 reports, citing a Forbes article.
What is known about Musk's fortune?
On Wednesday, October 1, Elon Musk reached another significant milestone, becoming the first person to reach $500 billion in wealth.
According to the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires tracker at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the richest person on the planet currently has assets worth $500 billion.
Tesla shares rose nearly 4% on Wednesday, adding about $9.3 billion to Musk's fortune as investors continue to celebrate the billionaire's return to the company.
Since the announcement at the April earnings conference call, when Musk announced his resignation as head of President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to focus on Tesla, the electric car maker's stock price has doubled.
Meanwhile, in September, Tesla's board of directors proposed a new record compensation package that could earn Musk up to $1 trillion in stock if the company achieves “Martian” goals, such as increasing its market capitalization eightfold in 10 years.
Note: Tesla isn't the only source of Musk's half-trillion-dollar fortune. His rocket company SpaceX, founded in 2002, is now valued at $400 billion in a private tender in August.
Musk owns 42% of SpaceX, worth $168 billion. In addition, xAI Holdings, formed in March through the merger of new AI company xAI with social network X (formerly Twitter), acquired in 2022, is worth $113 billion. Musk's 53% stake is valued at $60 billion.
Reaching the $500 billion mark is just another step in a series of record-breaking numbers over the past five years. In March 2020, his fortune was worth $24.6 billion, but Tesla's rapid growth made him the fifth centibillionaire in August of that year. In January 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world with $190 billion.
Forbes believes that at this rate, Musk could become the first trillionaire by March 2033. At the same time, Musk himself assures that money has nothing to do with it.
This isn't about 'compensation', it's about me having enough influence at Tesla to ensure safety if we make millions of robots,
– Musk wrote in a September post on X.
Current news related to Musk
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Tesla and xAI have recently seen a significant churn of senior management due to grueling work schedules, unpredictable management decisions, and Elon Musk's political activities.
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Yes, several key managers left Tesla, and at xAI, the CFO and chief legal officer resigned.
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A sharp scandal has recently erupted around Elon Musk's father. 79-year-old Errol Musk has come under investigation for allegedly sexually abusing five of his children and stepchildren.