Translated with AI
American entrepreneur Elon Musk has surpassed another milestone, becoming the first person in history with a net worth of $500 billion. According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, the record figure was reached at 3:30 PM ET (10:30 PM Moscow time), RBC reports.
Later, the Forbes index value changed slightly; as of 11:10 PM Moscow time, the magazine estimated Musk's fortune at $499.5 billion. At 11:50 PM Moscow time, it was $499.1 billion.
Tesla shares rose nearly 4% in trading today, adding about $9.3 billion to Musk's net worth. The electric car maker's stock has nearly doubled since Musk announced in April that he was stepping down as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to focus more on Tesla.
However, as Forbes notes, the entrepreneur's wealth has increased not only due to the latter: for example, the value of SpaceX, the space technology company he founded, has increased by $50 billion since December (Musk owns 42% of its shares, worth $168 billion). The March merger of Musk's company xAI with the social network X to form xAI Holdings led to the latter being valued at $113 billion. Musk owns approximately 53% of the company's shares, valued at $60 billion.
In December, Musk became the first person in history with a net worth of $400 billion.
In September 2024, the analytics group Informa Connect Academy released a report predicting that Musk could become history's first trillionaire by 2027. The experts based their estimate on the fact that Musk's net worth has grown by an average of 110% per year.
Musk topped Forbes' list of the world's richest people for the first time in 2021, displacing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. At the time, the magazine estimated Musk's net worth at $271.3 billion.
Since then, the businessman has lost and regained his top spot in the rankings several times.
Musk's primary assets are SpaceX and Tesla. SpaceX launches its own rockets into space, and the businessman has stated that its ultimate goal is sending humans to Mars. Tesla specializes in electric vehicles. Musk also owns shares in xAI Holdings. He also owns Neuralink, a company that creates brain chips. He is the co-founder of seven companies.
