Elon Musk net worth: What made him the world’s richest man? How a $1 Trillion shareholder-approved pay package could make him history’s first Trillionaire

Elon Musk, the visionary behind Tesla, Inc. (TSLA), SpaceX, xAI, and more, has already secured his place as the richest person on Earth and now stands poised to become its first trillionaire. His net worth has surged past the $500 billion mark on the back of soaring valuations for Tesla and private companies like SpaceX.

At Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting, more than 75 percent of shares voted to approve a compensation package that could award Musk stock worth nearly $1 trillion over the next 10 years, if stringent performance milestones are met.

Musk’s fortune is largely linked to his roughly 12 percent ownership of Tesla, the world’s most valuable automaker. Despite a volatile start to the year, Tesla’s stock has gained around 14 percent so far in 2025.

What made Elon Musk the richest person in the world?

According to Forbes website, Elon Musk’s rise to the top of the billionaire rankings stems from his role as a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded seven companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and the artificial intelligence startup xAI. He owns roughly 12 percent of Tesla, which he first backed in 2004 and has led as CEO since 2008. In 2024, a Delaware judge voided Musk’s 2018 deal granting him options for an additional 9 percent of Tesla; Forbes has since discounted those options by 50 percent pending Musk’s appeal.

Musk also holds a 42 percent stake in SpaceX, the private rocket company he founded in 2002, which is valued at $400 billion based on a private tender offer in August 2025.

In 2022, he purchased Twitter for $44 billion and merged it with xAI in March 2025, creating a combined company valued at $113 billion, including debt. Beyond these ventures, Musk founded The Boring Company, focused on tunneling, and Neuralink, a brain-implant startup; together, the two have raised roughly $2 billion from private investors.

With shareholders approving Tesla’s historic pay package, Musk now stands to add up to $1 trillion in potential stock grants over the next decade, a sum contingent on hitting ambitious performance milestones, including launching humanoid robots and expanding Tesla’s self-driving business.

If all targets are met, the payout could push Musk past the trillion-dollar mark, solidifying his position not only as the world’s richest person today but also as potentially the first trillionaire in history.