According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, at 3:30 p.m. (Eastern time) on October 1, Elon Musk - CEO of Tesla and SpaceX - raised his total net worth to 500 billion USD, far exceeding the world's second richest person Larry Ellison by 150 billion USD. This is a milestone that no one had touched before Elon Musk.
Tesla shares increased nearly 4% in the session, helping Musk pocket an additional $9.3 billion in just a few hours. The stock market is happy when Musk announced that he will spend more time on Tesla, after leaving his leadership position in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration.
Tesla's capitalization has now returned to a historical peak set at the end of last year, and Musk's 12% stake alone is worth $191 billion. Not to mention, the 2018 stock bonus package, if restored through a court ruling, could bring him an additional 133 billion USD.
In addition to Tesla, Musk also benefits greatly from SpaceX - a missile company currently valued at $400 billion, with half of Musk's shares worth about $168 billion.
In parallel, xAI Holdings - an artificial intelligence and social media corporation (a combination of xAI and X, formerly Twitter) - is currently valued at 113 billion USD. Musk owns 53%, equivalent to $60 billion.
Elon Musk's asset value has increased from $24 billion to $500 billion in just 5 years.
March 2020: Musk owns $24.6 billion.
August 2020: In the top 5 people in the world, reaching 100 billion USD.
September 2021: Becoming the third person to reach the 200 billion USD mark.
November 2021: Exceeding 300 billion USD.
December 2024: Set a record of 400 billion USD.
October 2025: Officially 500 billion USD, becoming the richest person in the world.
Although the assets have continuously set records, Musk insists he does not value the absolute value of the money. On social network X in September, he wrote: This is not a bargaining issue, but it is something I need to have enough influence at Tesla to ensure safety if we produce millions of robots. I do not accept a future where I can be eliminated by active shareholders who do not even own Tesla shares.
If he maintains his current pace, Musk could reach the $1 trillion mark before March 2033 - the time to launch Tesla's "billion-dollar" reward package. This will be an unprecedented achievement, taking Elon Musk from the king of technology to the worlds first trillion-dollar billionaire.
