Elon Musk

Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on Friday, following the record-breaking stock market debut of his company SpaceX.

With a current estimated net worth of about $1.11tn, according to Bloomberg, Musk sits well above wealthy billionaires topping rich lists, including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and boss of French luxury goods group LVMH, Bernard Arnault.

Musk – who first made waves in the tech industry in the late 1990s – hasn’t always topped the rich list though.

In January 2020, he was only the 35th richest person in the world, with a fortune of around $28bn.

But his wealth took off that year as the value of his two biggest companies – electric carmaker Tesla and space exploration and AI firm SpaceX – began to grow sharply. Musk holds large stakes in both businesses.

The long-scroll chart below traces this volatile journey over the last six years. His wealth trajectory mimics a jagged mountain range, with dramatic surges and steep declines driven by swings in Tesla’s share price, the rising value of SpaceX, and shifts in political and investor sentiment during his time in the Trump administration.