Elon Musk has crossed another historic threshold, becoming the first individual to amass a fortune of $500 billion, putting him halfway to an unprecedented trillion-dollar net worth.
According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker, Musk’s wealth reached the half-trillion mark by mid-afternoon Wednesday, cementing his lead over runner-up Larry Ellison by roughly $150 billion. Musk already made history in December as the only person to surpass $400 billion.
The surge came as Tesla shares climbed nearly 4 percent during the day, adding more than $9 billion to his fortune. Investors have rallied around the automaker since Musk pledged in April to shift his focus back to Tesla after stepping away from his controversial post as head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Tesla’s stock has nearly doubled since then, and Musk’s 12 percent stake is now worth an estimated $191 billion.
That figure does not include billions in performance-based Tesla options from Musk’s 2018 pay package, which remain tied up in a Delaware Supreme Court appeal. If restored, those options could add $133 billion to his fortune. At the same time, Tesla’s board has proposed a compensation plan that could deliver Musk up to $1 trillion in stock if the company meets very aggressive long-term goals, including growing its market cap more than eightfold over the life of the award.
SpaceX has also powered Musk’s rise. A recent private tender valued the rocket company at $400 billion, giving Musk’s 42 percent stake a worth of about $168 billion. His AI and social media venture, xAI Holdings, formed by merging his AI startup with X, the former Twitter, was valued at $113 billion and adds roughly $60 billion to his net worth based on his stake.
Musk’s climb over the past five years has been dramatic. In March 2020, his wealth stood at $24.6 billion. By August that year, he had joined the $100 billion club. He became the world’s richest person in January 2021, surpassed $200 billion in September 2021, reached $300 billion in November 2021, and crossed $400 billion by December 2024.
If that pace continues, Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire before March 2033, when the first vesting date of his proposed pay package arrives.
Musk, however, insists it is not about money. “It’s not about ‘compensation’, but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots,” he wrote on X last month. “If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future.”
