Elon Musk is the wealthiest person in the world in terms of financial assets, with an estimated net worth of US$1.04 trillion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index[1] and $1.1 trillion according to Forbes,[2] as of October 6, 2026, primarily from his ownership stakes of 42% of SpaceX[3] and 20% of Tesla.[4] He is eligible to receive additional Tesla[5] and SpaceX[6] equity awards subject to certain conditions.
Musk was first listed on the Forbes list of The World's Billionaires in 2012, with a net worth of $2 billion.[7] According to Forbes, his net worth reached $300billion in 2021; $400bn in December 2024;[8] $500bn in October 2025;[9] $600bn[10] and $700bn[11] in December 2025; $800bn in February 2026;[12] and $900bn in June 2026, and he became the only US dollartrillionaire in history that month upon the initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX.[13][14][15] Since then, his net worth has been volatile, largely because of changes in SpaceX’s valuation. His net worth reached an intraday peak of $1.45 trillion in the week after the IPO,[16] but by late July 2026, a SpaceX stock collapse had reduced this net worth by $750 billion, the largest net worth loss in history.[17][18][19]
In May 2020, Musk pledged to sell almost all physical possessions and said he would "own no house",[20] but in February 2026, The New York Times identified at least 37 companies that own properties which appear to be for Musk's personal use, including expensive condominiums, planes used by him for private travel and at least 1000 acres of land.[21] His wealth is managed by Excession LLC, his family office, which has been run by Jared Birchall since 2016.[22]
History
Elon Musk made $180million when PayPal was sold to eBay in October 2002.[23]
At the start of 2020, Musk had a net worth of $27bn.[24] By the end of 2020, his net worth had increased by $150bn, mostly driven by his ownership of around 20% of Tesla.[25]
Before Musk executed major sales of Tesla stock in 2021, Musk described himself as "cash poor".[26][20]
Musk's net worth has been volatile. It dropped $16.3bn on September 8, 2020, the largest single-day plunge in Bloomberg Billionaires Index's history at the time.[27]
In November 2020, 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.[28]
In November 2020, around 75% of Musk's wealth was derived from his ownership of Tesla stock,[28] a proportion that fell to about 37% as of December 2022,[a] after selling nearly $40bn in company shares in late 2021 and 2022.[29]
On January 7, 2021, Musk, with a net worth of $285bn, surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world.[30] Bezos reclaimed the top spot on February 16, 2021.[31] On September 27, 2021, after Tesla stock surged, Forbes announced that Musk had a net worth of over $190bn,[32] and was the richest person in the world. In November 2021, Musk became the first person to have a net worth of more than $300bn.[33]
On December 30, 2022, due to a decline in the value of Tesla shares, Musk's net worth declined by $200bn since its peak, making Musk the first person in history to have lost such an amount,[34][35] which was recognized by Guinness World Records in January 2023.[36]
After the value of Tesla shares surged following the 2024 United States presidential election, in December 2024, Musk became the first person to have a net worth of more than $400bn.[8]
However, Musk's association with the second presidency of Donald Trump then led to a decline in value in shares of Tesla, resulting in his net worth dropping by $126bn between December 2024 and March 2025.[40]
For a few hours on September 10, 2025, Larry Ellison's net worth surpassed that of Musk.[41]
Upon the initial public offering of SpaceX on June 12, 2026, Musk became the only person to have had a net worth exceeding $1 trillion.[14] Since then, his net worth has fluctuated, reaching as high as $1.4 trillion in the week after the IPO, but has been under $1 trillion from July 2026 until October 2026 when it again went above $1 trillion.[42][43]
Compensation from Tesla and failed legal challenge
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.[25] The deal stipulated that Musk only received the compensation if Tesla reached certain revenue, market capitalization values, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).[44] It was the largest such deal ever done between a CEO and a company board.[45] In the first award, given in May 2020, he was eligible to purchase 1.69million Tesla shares (about 1% of the company, worth $800M at the time) at below-market prices.[45][44]
In January 2024, Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in a 2018 lawsuit that Musk's $55bn pay package from Tesla be rescinded.[46] 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."[47] A re-ratification shareholders' vote passed in mid-June 2024, agreeing also to move Tesla's incorporation from Delaware to Texas; a lawsuit was filed by a Tesla investor beforehand that alleged Musk employed "coercive tactics" to move the vote in his favor.[48] The Delaware Supreme Court overturned McCormick's decision in December 2025 because it was "inequitable" and that restoring the status quo ante was impossible after Musk had fully performed the terms of the agreement over six years. Musk's compensation package was restored and $1 in nominal damages was awarded.[49] Musk exercised the stock options from his 2018 pay package on June 16, 2026.[50][51]
Giving
According to Walter Isaacson's biography on Musk, Musk has little interest in traditional philanthropy, calling most of it nonsense and estimating only about 20 cents of impact per dollar.[52][53] Musk has been criticized for relatively minimal philanthropic giving; however, he believes that he can do more for humanity by investing his money in fields such as renewable energy, space exploration and AI safety as opposed to using his wealth for directly philanthropic purposes.[54] Musk has said multiple times that it is much harder to give money away to do actual good versus it being very easy to give money away appearing to do good.[55][56]
At the end of 2024, the Musk Foundation had over $14 billion in assets.[58] Since 2020, donations have largely been sent to organizations affiliated with Musk and his businesses.[59][60]
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.[61]
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.[62]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.
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.[63][64]
Net worth and 1-year growth of each of the top 16 US billionaires, and all US billionaires as a whole, as of June 16, 2026
Musk's status as the first US dollar trillionaire drew historical comparisons, acclaim, and criticism. The New York Times drew the connection between Musk and John D. Rockefeller, who became the first US dollar billionaire in 1916.[79] Rockefeller's wealth was estimated at $900million in 1913, which was 2.3% of the US gross domestic product (GDP);[80] when Musk's wealth was $970 billion on June 11, 2026 due to the pricing of SpaceX at $135 per share, it was 3% of the US GDP.[81] When Musk became a trillionaire, he was nearly four times as wealthy as the second richest person, Larry Page.[82] Left leaning American political figures such as Elizabeth Warren[83] and Zohran Mamdani[84] used the milestone to call for the implementation of a wealth tax.
Musk paid $455million in taxes on $1.52billion of income between 2014 and 2018.[85] According to ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, Musk paid no federal income taxes in 2018.[86] According to Musk, his 2021 tax bill was $11bn following the sale of $14bn worth of Tesla stock, close to a $12bn CNBC estimate.[85]
Notes
↑According to The Wall Street Journal, he was worth $140billion, with $52billion of that attributable to his ownership of Tesla stock.
↑Isaacson, Walter (September 12, 2023). Elon Musk. Simon & Schuster. p.439. ISBN978-1-9821-8130-7. Musk expressed his view that most of it was 'bullshit.' There was only a 20 cent impact for every dollar put in, he estimated.
↑Gordon, John Steele (November 12, 1999). "The Rich Were Different". www.forbes.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2026. John D. Rockefeller's $900 million in 1913 represented one forty-fourth [2.3%] of the GNP of that year.
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