Entrepreneur Elon Musk has become the first person in history with a fortune of more than $400bn, Bloomberg reports.
The agency estimates his capital at $439 billion – the sharp growth was provided by the internal sale of shares of his space company SpaceX, which brought $50 billion. The startup and its investors agreed to buy back 1.25 billion shares from employees of the company.
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index at the time of publication displayed Musk’s fortune at $384bn, while Forbes estimates it at $368bn.
Bloomberg notes that Musk’s other companies have also improved recently: shares in electric car maker Tesla have risen about 65% since before the US election, and the value of his artificial intelligence startup xAI has more than doubled since his last fundraising in May, to $50bn.
Musk’s fortune has grown from $300bn in less than a month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The significant growth began around the time of the US presidential election, which Musk-backed Donald Trump won. A year ago, the billionaire’s fortune was estimated at about $225bn, and there have been drops throughout 2024, including one in April to less than $180bn.
In January, a court in Delaware ordered the cancellation of Musk ‘s then $55bn compensation package from Tesla (in lieu of his CEO salary, which he was, for a ten-year term in the form of company stock). Because of this, he could have lost the top spot in the world ranking of billionaires.
On December 3, a court in the same state again cancelled this payment, it is currently estimated at $101 billion. Bloomberg notes that even if Musk is not awarded the payment, he will remain the richest man in the world.
