Banner day for Elon Musk as higher SpaceX valuation puts his net worth over $400 billion

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is now the first person to have a net worth of over $400 billion. His assets — the largest of which are Tesla, SpaceX and xAI — are now worth an estimated $428 billion as of . 14 Wednesday, according to Forbes discretion. That makes Musk worth more than any billionaire Forbes ever followed in the nearly four decades that they published a list of the world’s billionaires.

Musk’s net worth increased by $58 billion the following Wednesday Forbes confirmed that SpaceX and its investors agreed to buy back insiders’ shares in a deal that values ​​the rocket company at $350 billion, which was first reported by Bloomberg. At that valuation, Musk’s estimated 42% stake is worth $147 billion — up more than 60% from SpaceX’s last takeover offer, which valued the company at $210 billion earlier this year. The new valuation makes SpaceX the most valuable private company in the world, more than TikTok parent ByteDance, ChatGPT creator OpenAI and payments giant Stripe.

“What’s really crazy about this is that almost no investors wanted to sell shares, even at a value of $350 billion! SpaceX reduced the amount of shares it bought back from employees to allow some new investors to come in,” Musk wrote on X – in which he owns an estimated 75% stake – Wednesday.

It’s another milestone in a golden year for Musk, whose net worth has increased by more than $150 billion since January 1, 2024. That’s thanks in part to SpaceX’s soaring valuation, but also to his 13% stake in Tesla (excluding options ), which accounts for the majority of his net worth (his stake is now worth nearly $170 billion excluding options), and his estimated 54% of the shares in artificial intelligence startup xAI, which private investors reportedly valued at $50 billion by November 2024. Shares of the electric car company have risen more than 70% since the Nov. 5 presidential election. CEO Musk has developed an increasingly close relationship with President-elect Trump, pumping hundreds of millions of dollars and countless hours into his campaign and Cabinet nomination process. He is also set to land a role in the new administration as co-head of a planned Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which would advise on ways to reduce federal government spending. That could possibly play a role regarding regulations affecting Musk’s companies.

It hasn’t been all good news for Musk. In early 2024, a Delaware judge voided his 2018 agreement to receive options equal to an additional 9% of Tesla – then worth about $56 billion. The same judge upheld that decision last week, despite Tesla shareholders voting to reauthorize the options pay package for Musk in June. Forbes has discounted the options by 50% pending Musk’s appeal, giving them a discounted valuation of nearly $60 billion.

After moving in and out of planet no. 1 richest place in recent years, Musk is now worth about $180 billion more than the world’s second-richest person, Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos. French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, whose fortune has fallen this year, previously held the title of world’s richest person and overtook Musk in January this year as Tesla shares weakened. In late May, boosted by a rally in Tesla shares, Musk again became the world’s richest person and has held onto that title ever since.

Thanks to the soaring values ​​of SpaceX, Tesla and xAI, Musk may remain the world’s richest person for the foreseeable future, given the wide gap between Musk and Bezos. If his wealth continues to grow at the rate it has in 2024, which is obviously unlikely, he could be a trillionaire by the end of the decade.