Musk in 2019 as SpaceX CEO; the company's IPO in 2026 led to him becoming the first US$ trillionaire.

Elon Musk is the world's wealthiest verified person, with an estimated net worth of US$1.1 trillion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index[1] and Forbes,[2] as of June 2026, primarily from his ownership stakes in SpaceX and Tesla.

Having been first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012,[3] around 75% of Musk's wealth was derived from Tesla stock in November 2020,[4] although he describes himself as "cash poor".[5][6] According to Forbes, he became the first person in the world to achieve a net worth of $300 billion in 2021; $400 billion in December 2024;[7] $500 billion in October 2025;[8] $600 billion in mid-December 2025;[9] $700 billion later that month;[10] $800 billion in February 2026;[11] $900 billion in June 2026; and $1 trillion ($1,000 billion) later that month with the initial public offering of SpaceX,[12][13] making Musk the first and only US$ trillionaire.[14]

In November 2025, a Tesla pay package worth potentially $1 trillion for Musk was approved, which he is to receive over 10 years if he meets specific goals.[15]

History

Elon Musk made $175.8 million when PayPal was sold to eBay in October 2002.[16] He was first listed on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2012, with a net worth of $2 billion.[3]

Musk paid $455 million in taxes on $1.52 billion of income between 2014 and 2018.[17] According to ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018.[18] He stated his 2021 tax bill was estimated at $12 billion based on his sale of $14 billion worth of Tesla stock.[17]

Musk has repeatedly described himself as "cash poor",[5][6] and has "professed to have little interest in the material trappings of wealth".[5] In May 2020, he pledged to sell almost all physical possessions.[6] Musk has defended his wealth by saying he is accumulating resources for humanity's outward expansion to space.[19]

At the start of 2020, Musk had a net worth of $27 billion.[20] By the end of the year, his net worth had increased by $150 billion, mostly driven by his ownership of around 20% of Tesla stock.[21] During this period, Musk's net worth was often volatile. For example, it dropped $16.3 billion on September 8, the largest single-day plunge in Bloomberg Billionaires Index's history at the time.[22] In November of that year, Musk passed Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to become the third-richest person in the world; a week later he passed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to become the second-richest.[4]

On January 7, 2021, Musk, with a net worth of $285 billion, surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world.[23] Bezos reclaimed the top spot on February 16, 2021.[24] On September 27, 2021, after Tesla stock surged, Forbes announced that Musk had a net worth of over $190 billion,[25] and was the richest person in the world. In November 2021, Musk became the first person to have a net worth of more than $300 billion.[26]

On December 30, 2022, due to declining stock values in Tesla, Musk had lost $100 billion from his net worth, the first person in history to do so,[27][28] which was recognized by Guinness World Records in January 2023.[29]

On December 13, 2022, Bernard Arnault's net worth surpassed Musk's, causing Musk to become the second-wealthiest individual. Musk reclaimed the title on June 1, 2023.[30] In January 2024, Musk became the second-wealthiest person in the world again after Bernard Arnault's net worth overtook his, but Musk's net worth soon overtook Arnault's again.[31] On March 5, 2024, Bezos briefly superseded Musk as the richest person in the world (until March 7 when Arnault superseded Bezos).[32] From May 28 to June 6, 2024, Musk superseded Arnault again. On June 6, 2024 Arnault was on the top again until on June 11, 2024 when Bezos took the lead. From June 18, 2024, Musk was on the top of the list except for less than a day in 2025.

Musk's net worth surged after the 2024 United States presidential election, and in December 2024, he became the first person to have a net worth of more than $400 billion.[7]

A primary customer, the federal government of the United States has signed contracts worth $20 billion with SpaceX as of November 2024.[33]

Musk's association with the second Trump administration received backlash, resulting in his net worth dropping by $126 billion between December 2024 and March 2025.[34]

On September 10, 2025, Larry Ellison's net worth surpassed Musk's for less than a day, causing Musk to become the second-wealthiest person in the world.[35]

With the initial public offering of SpaceX on June 12, 2026, Musk became the first and only person to have a net worth exceeding $1 trillion.[13]

Sources of wealth

Around 75% of Musk's wealth was derived from Tesla stock in November 2020,[4] a proportion that fell to about 37% as of December 2022,[a] after selling nearly $40 billion in company shares since late 2021.[36] Musk does not receive a salary from Tesla; he agreed with the board in 2018 to a compensation plan that ties his personal earnings to Tesla's valuation and revenue.[21] The deal stipulated that Musk only received the compensation if Tesla reached certain market values.[37] It was the largest such deal ever done between a CEO and a company board.[38] In the first award, given in May 2020, he was eligible to purchase 1.69 million Tesla shares (about 1% of the company) at below-market prices, which was worth about $800 million.[38][37]

In January 2024, Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in a 2018 lawsuit that Musk's $55 billion pay package from Tesla be rescinded.[39] McCormick called the compensation granted by the company's board "an unfathomable sum" that was unfair to shareholders. In response to the ruling, Musk posted on X: "Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware."[40] A re-ratification shareholders' vote passed in mid-June 2024, agreeing also to move Tesla's incorporation from Delaware to Texas, although follow-up litigation is expected, including a lawsuit filed by a Tesla investor beforehand that alleged Musk employed "coercive tactics" to move the vote in his favor.[41] The Delaware Supreme Court overturned McCormick's decision in December 2025, restoring Musk's compensation package and awarding $1 in nominal damages.[42]

Management

Musk's wealth is managed by his family office called Excession LLC, formed in 2016 and run by Jared Birchall.[43]

Musk Foundation

This section is an excerpt from Musk Foundation.[edit]

The Musk Foundation is a United States–based charitable foundation funded and directed primarily by Elon Musk. The foundation is dedicated to promoting renewable energy, crewed space exploration, pediatrics, science and engineering education, and the "development of safe artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity".[44]

At the end of 2024, the Musk Foundation had over $14 billion in assets.[45] Since 2020, donations have largely been sent to organizations affiliated with Musk and his businesses.[46][45]

Giving

According to the biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk has little interest in philanthropy. He believes that he can do more for humanity by leaving his money in his companies and pursuing the goals of sustainable energy, space exploration and AI safety with them.[47] The Musk Foundation has been criticized for both its selection of recipients of donations and a relatively low payout ratio. In 2021 and 2022, the Musk Foundation awarded less than 5% of its assets in donations, after its assets grew to several billion dollars. This means that it fell short of the legal minimum donation required to maintain its tax-exempt status.[48] The Guardian criticized the fact that the foundation financed various projects of Musk and his family members, although this is not unusual for billionaires and wealthy donors.[49] The New York Times concluded that through 2022, about half of the Musk Foundation's grants went to organizations "tied" to Musk, one of his employees, or one of his companies. In one instance, after Musk challenged World Food Programme director David Beasley to draft a plan to use money of Musk's that Beasley said could end world hunger, Musk instead donated the $6 billion in question to his own foundation after Beasley's plan showed that the money could only feed 42 million people for just one year.[50][51]

Education

Musk has asserted that declining birth rates pose an existential threat to humanity and in 2021 donated $10 million to the University of Texas at Austin to research the potential risks.[52][53]

In December 2023, tax records revealed that Musk had donated $100 million to a new foundation, "The Foundation", set up to create a primary and secondary school focused on teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.[54][55] The foundation included plans to expand the project to the university level accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.[54] In 2022, Musk allocated Tesla, Inc. stock valued at $2.2 billion to The Foundation.[citation needed]

Technology

In 2015, Musk donated $10 million to the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, an organization focused on challenges posed by advanced technologies.[56]

Politics

According to the Wall Street Journal, Musk donated $50 million in the fall of 2022 to Citizens for Sanity, a political action committee (PAC) aligned with the policies of Donald Trump.[57]

In 2023, Musk donated $10 million to the Ron DeSantis 2024 presidential campaign.[58]

In 2024, Musk supported the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign, creating America PAC[59] and donating $270 million to it.[60][61] He also gave $20.5 million to pro-Trump RBG PAC.[62] His donations in the 2024 election cycle totaled more than $291 million, the most of any donor.[63]

See also

  • Astra Nova School
  • Texas Institute of Technology and Science

Notes

  1. ^ According to The Wall Street Journal, he was worth $140 billion, with $52 billion of that attributable to his ownership of Tesla stock.

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