Elon Musk’s net worth has hit a staggering $648 billion – making the world’s richest person more than twice as wealthy as the runner-up and worth more than some of the most valuable US companies.
Musk saw his wealth jump by $178 billion in just two days, putting his year-to-date gain at a record-breaking $216 billion as investors cheered Tesla’s driverless taxi tests in Texas, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Wednesday.
That means the Tesla and SpaceX founder gained more wealth in just under a year than LVMH Bernard Arnault’s entire fortune – a whopping $205 billion from running the world’s largest luxury goods maker, including brands like Louis Vuitton and TAG Heuer.
Even if the $216 billion that Musk earned this year was his entire fortune, he would still be the world’s sixth-richest person – wealthier than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer; Nvidia’s Jensen Huang; and Jim, Rob and Alice Walton, heirs of the Walmart fortune.
Shares in Tesla closed at an all-time high of $490 on Tuesday after the automaker revealed it has been testing autonomous taxis on Austin, Texas roads – welcome news to investors who have grown concerned the company is not reaching enough milestones in self-driving and robotics.
Musk’s 12% stake in Tesla, which is worth roughly $200 billion, helped push his fortune to new heights on Wednesday.
Reports that SpaceX has doubled its valuation since the summer to a whopping $800 billion during a secondary share sale also drove the wealth increase.
The rocket-launch firm is aiming for an initial public offering in the second half of 2026, according to the Information.
It will hold its first meetings with bankers this week in a process known as a “bake off” – a key step before the IPO, which would rank among the largest of all time, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The wealth pop made Musk more than twice as wealthy as Alphabet co-founder Larry Page, the second-richest person in the world with a $264 billion net worth and $96 billion year-to-date gain.
Musk is now more than four times as rich as Warren Buffett, the longtime chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway known as the “Oracle of Omaha” who is stepping down after running the firm for roughly 60 years.
Buffett is worth about $150 billion after donating more than half of his fortune.
Musk’s net worth now exceeds the valuations of top companies like Oracle, Mastercard and Johnson & Johnson, which all rank among the 20 most valuable American companies.
It’s a stark turnaround from earlier this year, when shares in Tesla roughly halved from mid-January to mid-March as investors panicked over Musk’s White House role.
The South African-born billionaire faced heated backlash after he led the Department of Government Efficiency – a cost-cutting committee that slashed foreign humanitarian aid and laid off tens of thousands of federal employees.
Shares in Tesla also faltered as investors grew concerned that the automaker was not delivering driverless robotaxis and autonomous robots as quickly as expected.
The stock decline caused Musk in September to briefly lose the top spot as the world’s richest person to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Across the board, AI stocks slipped as some top executives warned that companies might be overspending on the new tech and creating a “bubble” – but the AI rally has since returned.
Now Musk even appears poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after Tesla shareholders last month approved his jaw-dropping $1 trillion pay package.
Musk will have to check off a series of lofty performance goals over the next decade to earn the full package, like hitting a $2 trillion valuation, churning out 20 million vehicles and delivering 1 million Optimus humanoid robots.
