Elon Musk, the visionary founder or co-founder of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and xAI, has made history as the first individual to surpass a net worth of $500 billion, driven by the soaring valuations of his groundbreaking companies. According to the Forbes billionaires index, Musk’s wealth hit $500.1 billion on Wednesday afternoon in New York before slightly settling just above $499 billion later that day.
The milestone further cements Musk’s status as the world’s richest person, well ahead of rivals in the global tech sector.
According to Forbes’ billionaires index, Oracle founder Larry Ellison is the world’s second richest person, with a fortune of about $350.7 billion.
Mr Ellison briefly overtook Musk last month after shares in Oracle soared by more than 40%, boosted by the firm’s surprisingly rosy outlook for its cloud infrastructure business and artificial intelligence (AI) deals.
Musk’s huge wealth is closely tied to his more than 12% stake in Tesla, which has seen its shares rise sharply this year.
Tesla shares were more than 3.3% higher at the end of New York trading on Wednesday and have now risen by over 20% this year.
He faced criticism earlier this year over his work with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the body tasked with reducing US government spending and cutting jobs.
Musk, who also owns the X social media platform, has also been vocal about his views on issues such as immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes.
MacDailyNews Note: Elon Musk’s proposed Tesla compensation package, unveiled in September 2025, could exceed $1 trillion in value if fully earned, granting him up to 423.7 million performance-based shares (about 12% of Tesla’s current shares). This vests in 12 equal tranches over 10 years, but only if Tesla achieves all milestones—requiring shareholder approval at the November 2025 annual meeting. Musk receives no salary; all pay is performance-tied, and unvested shares forfeit if he leaves or goals aren’t met by 2035. The package boosts his stake from ~13% to ~25%, increasing his voting power.
The plan combines escalating market cap thresholds (starting at $2 trillion, then nine $500B increments, ending with two $1T jumps to $8.5T total—~8x current ~$1.1T valuation) with operational milestones, all to be hit progressively for each tranche:
• Deliver 20 million Tesla vehicles cumulatively.
• Secure 10 million active Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscriptions.
• Deliver 1 million Optimus humanoid robots.
• Deploy 1 million robotaxis in commercial operation.
• Achieve a series of adjusted EBITDA* benchmarks, culminating in $400 billion over four consecutive quarters.
The final two tranches also require Musk to establish an approved CEO succession plan.
*Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.
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