Musk Becomes the First Person Worth $500 Billion

Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, Tesla, and X (formerly Twitter), has become the first person whose fortune is valued at $500 billion. This puts him halfway toward becoming the world’s first trillionaire, Forbes reported on Wednesday, October 1, citing data from its Real-Time Billionaires service, an index of billionaires updated in real time.

At 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Musk’s estimated fortune rose by $9.3 billion amid a significant surge in Tesla shares, reaching the $500 billion mark, though it later dipped slightly. By the close of trading on October 1, Musk’s wealth was valued at $499.1 billion.

Back in March 2020, Forbes estimated Elon Musk’s net worth at $24.6 billion. By August of that same year, thanks to the rapid rise in Tesla stock, he became the fifth person in history to hold $100 billion. In January 2021, he became the world’s richest person for the first time with nearly $190 billion. He crossed the $200 billion mark in September of that year, the $300 billion mark in November, and by December 2024, Musk became the first individual to reach $400 billion.

Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, which also maintains a ranking of the world’s wealthiest individuals, Musk’s fortune is somewhat lower—around $470 billion. In Bloomberg’s and Forbes’ rankings, the second-richest person is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose wealth is $120 billion less (Bloomberg) or $150 billion less (Forbes) than Musk’s.

Forbes estimates that Elon Musk could become the world’s first dollar trillionaire by March 2033. However, the analytics group Informa Connect Academy predicted a year ago that he might reach this milestone as early as 2027.