Elon Musk achieved yet another major milestone Wednesday, becoming the first ever person worth $500 billion. The richest person on the planet is now worth $500 billion, as of 3:30 pm Eastern, per Forbesā Real-Time Billionaires tracker.
Musk, who became the first person ever worth $400 billion or more in December, is $150 billion ahead of runner-up Larry Ellisonāand half-way to becoming the worldās first trillionaire.
Shares of Tesla climbed by nearly 4 per cent Wednesday, adding an estimated $9.3 billion to Muskās fortune, as investors continue to celebrate the prospect of a refocused Musk.
The EV makerās stock price has nearly doubled since Musk first announced on the companyās April earnings call that he would be stepping back from his role as head of President Trumpās Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to spend more time on Tesla. With Teslaās market cap back within 10 per cent of the all-time high it hit in December, Muskās 12 per cent stake in the company is now worth $191 billion.
And thatās excluding performance-based Tesla stock options from Muskās 2018 CEO compensation package that would be worth $133 billion today if the award hadnāt been voided by a Delaware judge in January 2024.
Forbes has discounted the value of those options by 50 per cent pending the outcome of Muskās ongoing appeal of the ruling to the Delaware Supreme Court. Meanwhile, in September, Teslaās board proposed a new, record-breaking pay package that could give Musk additional stock worth up to $1 trillion (before taxes and the cost of unlocking the restricted shares) if Tesla achieves āMars-shotā performance milestones like growing its market cap more than eightfold over the 10-year life of the award.
Tesla isnāt the only company Musk has to thank for his half-trillion-dollar fortune. His rocket maker SpaceX, which he founded in 2002, is now worth $400 billion based on a private tender offer in August, up from $350 billion last December.
Musk owns an estimated 42 per cent stake in SpaceX worth $168 billion. And then thereās xAI Holdings, which Musk formed in March, when he merged his new artificial intelligence company xAI with the social media company he acquired in 2022, X (formerly Twitter), in a deal that valued the combined company at $113 billion. Musk owns an estimated 53 per cent stake in xAI Holdings worth $60 billion.
Hitting the $500 billion net worth mark is just the latest in a series of milestones Musk has achieved over the past half decade. Worth just $24.6 billion in March 2020, soaring Tesla shares made him the fifth person ever worth $100 billion, in August 2020. He became the worldās richest person for the first time in January 2021, with a nearly $190 billion net worth. Then, in September 2021, he became the third person ever worth $200 billion (after Amazonās Jeff Bezos and Frenchman Bernard Arnault of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH).
Musk went on to hit $300 billion in November 2021 and $400 billion in December 2024.
If he keeps up that pace, Musk could become the worldās first trillionaire before March 2033, when the first of two vesting dates for his $1 trillion Tesla pay package hits. But according to Musk, that award isnāt about the money anyway.
āItās not about ācompensationā, but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots,ā Musk wrote in a September X post. āIf I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who donāt even own Tesla shares themselves, Iām not comfortable with that future.ā
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