Technocrat Elon Musk is set to become the world's first trillionaire as his rocket company SpaceX's bumper listing could propel the richest person's net worth over 1.1 trillion, according to a Reuters report. The bulk of his wealth is derived from stakes in Tesla and SpaceX, the latter of which raised a record $75 billion in its IPO.
Elon Musk has around $866 billion worth of stake in SpaceX. Combined with Tesla stake and other properties, his net worth is set to soar over the $1.1 trillion mark once the rocket company begins public trading in the United States markets today, on 12 June (Friday). This has been calculated by the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index (BBI), Forbes and Reuters, based on company filings, they each said.
Elon Musk: The world's richest person's net worth?
At time of writing on 12 June (IST), Bloomberg estimates Elon Musk's net worth at $971 billion, up a massive $274 billion from the previous day. Over the past year, his valuation has jumped by $351 billion — more than the net worth of the second richest person, Larry Page ($304 billion net worth).
The Forbes rich list, meanwhile, pegs Elon Musk's net worth around $794.6 billion at time of writing, up $12.6 billion compared to the previous trading day (US time), and $501.9 billion more than Larry Page, who at second spot is worth $292.7 billion.
“The second richest person has been hovering around $300 billion, so about less than one-third of what Musk can potentially be worth tomorrow. And only one other person, (Oracle founder) Larry Ellison, has ever been worth $400 billion,” Matt Durot, deputy editor at Forbes Wealth stated.
‘Muskonomy’ or ‘Elon premium’ in focus
While 54-year-old Elon Musk gained popularity in the public space through his companies Tesla and SpaceX and subsequent $44 billion acquisition of social media platform Twitter, he has since seen growing criticism for “oligarch-like” behaviour and his involvement in the Donald Trump administration, the Reuters report added.
As part of the Trump administration, he had active part in its so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which made several controversial budget and job cuts across federal departments.
Notably, Elon Musk has also attracted attention for his hefty Tesla pay packages, but his sphere of influence has led to market watchers labelling his network of businesses as the “Muskonomy” or “Elon premium”, where company values are boosted due to his attached brand value, the report added.
“Much like Tesla, SpaceX is a bet on Elon Musk. A market cap of $1.5-2 trillion would certainly throw all traditional valuation methodologies out the window and is instead best characterised as the ‘Elon Musk premium’,” Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital told Reuters.
Born in Pretoria (South Africa), to a Canadian mother and South African father, Elon Musk attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1997. He took over as Tesla's CEO in 2008 and helped redefine the global automotive industry. Many investors are betting he can repeat the feat in space and artificial intelligence.
Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has co-founded five other companies, including tunneling startup The Boring Company and brain implant maker Neuralink.
(With inputs from Reuters)
