Elon Musk has become the first person to ever achieve a net worth of $447 billion, thus becoming the world’s richest individual and almost doubling the fortune of Jeff Bezos, the second-wealthiest person, who stands at $248 billion.
Tesla shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, at $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 stock of the EV maker 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.
The source of Musk’s wealth lies in his portfolio of groundbreaking companies. Tesla, his electric vehicle powerhouse, leads the world in EVs but is also pioneering advancements in autonomous driving. SpaceX redefined space exploration, not only winning NASA contracts and launching the Starlink satellite network for global internet coverage. Other ventures, like Neuralink and the Boring Co., take on the challenges of developing brain-computer interfaces and underground transportation.
An alliance with President-elect Donald Trump has brought his ventures into the front. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X and the CEO of other ventures like Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company. Now he will head a new “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE named after a memecoin, together with Vivek Ramaswamy.
This optimism is fueled partly by Musk’s highly prominent role in Donald Trump’s campaign and his coming out as a close advisor to the president-elect who has tasked him with streamlining the US government.
According to Bloomberg, which reported on Wednesday, SpaceX is now valued at $350 billion based on the latest price paid by the company and its backers to buy shares from employees. The valuation of the owner of Starlink was previously at $210 billion after a secondary share sale in June.
It is worth underlining how spectacular a leap in wealth has been that of Musk. Just as recently as April, his wealth stood at less than $170 billion, and it was around $25 billion five years ago, roughly 1/18th of his net worth today.