Elon Musk has become the first person in history to amass a fortune of $500 billion.
His soaring wealth, fueled by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, cements him far ahead of rivals.
Elon Musk has set another historic record, becoming the first individual in history to reach a net worth of $500 billion.
According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker, Musk’s fortune crossed the half-trillion mark on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, placing him more than $150 billion ahead of second-place billionaire Larry Ellison.
The milestone was driven by a nearly 4% rise in Tesla’s stock price, which added about $9.3 billion to Musk’s wealth. Tesla’s market cap is now within 10% of its all-time high, bringing Musk’s 12% stake in the company to an estimated $191 billion. Musk also holds substantial stakes in other ventures, including SpaceX valued at $400 billion with his 42% ownership worth $168 billion and xAI Holdings, his artificial intelligence and social media company, where his 53% stake is valued at $60 billion.
The billionaire’s journey has been marked by rapid wealth accumulation. In 2020, he was worth less than $25 billion, before surging past $100 billion later that year and becoming the world’s richest person for the first time in January 2021. He reached $300 billion by November 2021, $400 billion in December 2024, and now $500 billion in October 2025.
Musk has also secured a proposed record-breaking Tesla pay package worth up to $1 trillion if the company achieves ambitious growth targets. Commenting on the award in September, Musk said:
“It’s not about ‘compensation,’ but about me having enough influence over Tesla to ensure safety if we build millions of robots. If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don’t even own Tesla shares themselves, I’m not comfortable with that future.”
At his current pace, can Musk become the world’s first trillionaire before 2033?
