Elon Musk Becomes First Person Worth Half a Trillion Dollars

On October 1, Elon Musk reached another important milestone, becoming the first person in history whose fortune has amounted to half a trillion dollars. The fortune of the richest person on the planet is now estimated at $500 billion, according to Forbes' real-time billionaires calculator. Musk, who became the first person with a fortune of over $400 billion in December, is now $150 billion ahead of second-place Larry Ellison and is halfway to becoming the world's first trillionaire.

On Wednesday, Tesla shares rose by almost 4%, adding about $9.3 billion to Musk's fortune. Investors continue to react positively to the prospect of Musk refocusing on the company. The electric car maker's stock price has nearly doubled since Musk announced in April that he would step down as head of President Trump's government efficiency department to devote more time to Tesla.

However, Tesla is not solely responsible for Musk's half-trillion-dollar fortune. His rocket company, SpaceX, is now valued at $400 billion, up from $350 billion last December, following a private competition in August. Musk owns about 42% of SpaceX's shares, which are worth $168 billion. In addition, there is xAI Holdings, which Musk created in March by merging his new artificial intelligence company, xAI, with the social media company X (formerly Twitter), which he acquired in 2022. The deal valued the combined company at $113 billion. Musk owns about 53% of xAI Holdings' shares, which are worth $60 billion.

Crossing the $500 billion fortune threshold is the latest in a series of Musk's achievements over the past five years. In March 2020, his fortune was only $24.6 billion. Thanks to the sharp rise in Tesla's shares, he became the fifth person in history to have a fortune of over $100 billion in August 2020. In January 2021, he became the richest person in the world for the first time, with a fortune of about $190 billion. Then, in September 2021, he became the third person to have a fortune of over $200 billion. Musk continued his rise, reaching $300 billion in November 2021 and $400 billion in December 2024.

If he maintains this pace, Musk could become the world's first trillionaire by March 2033. However, according to Musk, this reward is not just about the money.