The world has its first 'near-trillionaire.' Today, following a huge rally in Tesla (TSLA) shares as well as a fresh round of funding for SpaceX valuing the aerospace giant at a whopping $350 billion, Elon Musk's net worth hit the $804 billion mark. To put this in a more realistic context, the number above his personal wealth is much greater than the annual GDP of nations like Argentina, Thailand, or Belgium.
The Engines of Growth
That spike from the $300 billion valuation range in late 2024 to $800 billion by early 2026 is due to a “perfect storm” of industry success:
The Tesla Robotaxi Revolution
Tesla’s total stock has more than doubled in the last 14 months and that is in part thanks to the successful launch of its “CyberCab” fleet and a substantial relaxation of regulatory barriers for Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology.
SpaceX & Starship Dominance
With the Starship program now conducting regular commercial flights and Starlink reaching nearly 150 million global subscribers, SpaceX is now the most valuable private company in history.
The xAI Factor
Musk’s artificial intelligence app, xAI, was recently valued at $100 billion after it announced “Grok-4,” which has emerged as a main rival to OpenAI and Google.
The Global Reaction
Experts differ on what that kind of concentrated wealth does to the economy. Although supporters said Musk’s capital was being spent on “species-saving” technology, such as interplanetary travel and sustainable energy, critics have sounded a new call for a worldwide “billionaire tax.”
“We’re witnessing the rise of an entirely new type of economic force a person with the weight of a G7 country,” said Dr. Aris Protopapadakis, a global wealth analyst. “This is not just an account with a bank account; it is a sovereign-level geopolitical influence.”
What’s Next: The Race to the Trillion
As Musk grows, some financial analysts at Morgan Stanley have estimated that the $1 trillion figure may be breached by end of 2027. A lot of that is due to the performance of the Optimus humanoid robot program, which Musk said he’d hoped would eventually make Tesla a “$25 trillion company.”
Today, Musk is sitting atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index over $500 billion ahead of his rivals Jeff Bezos and Larry Ellison.
