Elon Musk could become the world's first trillionaire as record-breaking net worth leaves people shocked
Tech guru Elon Musk hit a major monetary milestone yesterday, becoming the first ever human being with a net worth of over $600 billion.
According to a Forbes report, the upgrade comes amid reports that his outer-Earth exploration start-up, SpaceX, has a new public valuation of over $800bn. As a reminder, Musk, 54, holds a 42 per cent stake in the business, which will go public next year.
Back in October, 54-year-old Musk surpassed his previous $500b net worth, becoming the first person to do so.
As mentioned, however, SpaceX's latest valuation caused the Tesla CEO's personal worth to sky-rocket a further $168bn on Monday (15 Dec), taking the total net to over $677bn, simultaneously boosting Musk's bragging rights and breaking a world record.
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His 12 per cent stake in his electric car firm is also understood to have helped him hop over this bracket, given that Tesla's shares have risen by 13 per cent across 2025 - despite a plateau in sales, linked by experts to Musk's support of controversial right-wing US leader, Donald Trump.
According to The Guardian, back in November, shareholders at the e-vehicle company approved a $1,000,000,000,000 (that's $1 trillion) pay plan for Musk, providing him with the largest corporate pay package in the whole of history.
And as Tyla reported last month, this feat in itself could have seen Musk achieve 'trillionaire' status - though, it doesn't hurt that his other 'side hustles' are helping him along the way.
Also having contributed to his shiny new net worth, was Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, being involved in advanced talks to raise $15bn in fresh equity, at a valuation of $230bn (via the Wall Street Journal).
"No one has ever surpassed $500 billion in net worth before," a spokesperson for Forbes explained. "Musk is now positioned closer to being a 'trillionaire' than losing the 'world’s richest person' title.
"The gap between Musk and Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and the current second-richest person (estimated wealth: $252 billion), has widened to $425 billion.
The finance mag added: "Musk has only $230 billion left to reach the $700 billion milestone, leading to assessments that the next milestone is not far off."
Unsurprisingly, the news of Musk's new net worth, as well as his further incoming wealth, has greatly divided social media users, many of whom have slammed the father-of-13 for failing to use his money for humanitarian causes.
"He could give everyone on earth $1 billion and still have $362 billion left," one X user pointed out.
Another questioned: "Why does anyone need that much money?"
"Can't bro just give us some," a third asked.
"He really could do so much to make the world a better place," another noted.
A fifth hit out: "This kind of wealth shouldn't be owned by one man."
Rhianna Benson