California: Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, briefly became the first to have a net worth surpassing $400 billion.
The 400 billion dollar mark —made him worth more than any billionaire Forbes has ever tracked in nearly four decades of ranking the world’s billionaires.
Musk’s net worth jumped by $58 billion after Forbes confirmed that SpaceX and its investors agreed to buy back insiders’ shares in a deal valuing the rocket company at $350 billion.
Since the aftermath of the 2024 US presidential election, Musk has enjoyed a huge surge in his personal wealth.
An alliance with President-elect Donald Trump has pushed his ventures to the forefront. Musk is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the owner of X and CEO of other ventures, including Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company. Now, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, he will oversee a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), named after a memecoin.
Tesla shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, hitting $424.77 at market close. Musk, who is Tesla’s largest individual shareholder, has also enjoyed the stock propelling higher in part due to the broader market — NASDAQ topped 20,000 for the first time ever Wednesday. Since Election Day, the EV maker’s stock has rallied roughly 65% on investors’ belief that Musk’s influence in the Trump administration will usher in an era of deregulation that will benefit the company.
When Elon was 12, he wrote code for a video game called “Blastar” and sold it to a computer magazine for $500.
Musk celebrates his 18th birthday in 1989. He would leave South Africa for Canada, where he studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
In 1995, Musk graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in economics and physics.
Musk had co-founded X.com, an online banking and financial services company. It merged with Continuity in 2000 and was renamed PayPal.
The online payment platform was acquired by eBay in a $1.5 billion deal in 2002. Musk pocketed $165 million.
Musk poses next to a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in 2008. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the intention of making space travel cheaper and more accessible.
In 2008, Musk became CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors. Years earlier, he had joined the electric-car company as chairman of the board, overseeing its initial round of investment funding.
Musk has been married three times — twice to Riley. Their second divorce came in 2016.
Musk unveils the Falcon Heavy rocket, billed as the world’s most powerful rocket, in 2011. Musk told he decided to build the rocket to put bigger satellites into orbit.
Musk represents SpaceX at a US Senate subcommittee hearing in 2014. The hearing was to learn more about space launch programs.
SpaceX had already landed a few federal contracts at that point, and Musk made his case for more. Musk unveils the dual-engine chassis of the new Tesla Model D in 2014.
Musk attends the Time 100 Gala with filmmaker George Lucas, left, and rapper Kanye West in 2015.Musk guest-stars on an episode of the TV sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” in 2015. He played himself.
His artificial intelligence startup, xAI, also more than doubled in value in November amid a new funding round, surging to $50 billion from a few months ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The world’s wealthiest man is now roughly $136 billion richer since November 5, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
While the top spots on the billionaires index typically switch around, Musk is racing past his wealthy peers. As of December 10, before his wealth skyrocketed to $400 billion, he was already $140 billion richer than the second-richest man on Earth, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk’s record-breaking Tesla-shareholder-approved pay package, which was worth $101 billion, was rejected by a Delaware court last week.
Bloomberg’s calculation still seems to include the pay package, which is now worth as much as $120 billion based on the current value of Tesla shares.
But Musk will still enjoy his riches, with numerous ways to gain significantly more wealth in the coming years.
