Elon Musk on Wednesday became the first individual to see his net worth cross $500 billion, driven by a rebound in Tesla’s share price and rising valuations of his other technology ventures.
The milestone comes less than a year after his fortune topped $400 billion, further cementing his position as the world’s richest person.
Musk’s wealth briefly touched $500 billion before closing at $499.1 billion at 5pm ET, according to Forbes’ billionaire index.
Much of his fortune comes from his nearly 12% stake in Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker. Tesla’s stock has gained about 14% this year despite a volatile start.
Last month, Musk purchased around $1 billion worth of Tesla shares, a move seen as a strong show of confidence as the company pushes to expand beyond car manufacturing into AI and robotics.
In September, Tesla’s board proposed a record $1 trillion compensation package for Musk, tying it to ambitious financial and operational goals.
The plan, the largest ever offered to a corporate executive, also responds to Musk’s call for a larger stake in the company. Since its announcement on September 5, Tesla’s stock has surged nearly 36%.
Beyond Tesla, Musk’s influence spans multiple industries—from cars and clean energy to aerospace and artificial intelligence.
His AI company xAI and rocket firm SpaceX have both seen valuations climb this year, with reports of fundraises at $200 billion and $400 billion, respectively.
xAI, valued at $75 billion in July, is scaling up a massive supercomputer called “Colossus” to train advanced models for its Grok chatbot, positioning itself against rivals like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has solidified its lead in the space industry, running the world’s largest satellite network via Starlink and winning the majority of US launch contracts.
It continues to launch more rockets than any other company, regularly delivering payloads to the International Space Station and for competing satellite networks.
On Forbes’ list, Oracle founder Larry Ellison trails Musk in second place with a net worth of about $350.7 billion as of Wednesday.