Elon Musk Becomes The World's First Trillionaire
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With a net worth of nearly $780 billion, Elon Musk had been the world's wealthiest individual for much of the 2020s. This was primarily due to his massive ownership in electric car maker Tesla. But while cars laid his financial foundation, it was rockets that helped make the 54-year-old the world's first-ever trillionaire on June 12, 2026.
This historic milestone was driven by the stock market debut of Musk's aerospace company, SpaceX. Trading under the ticker symbol SPCX, the stock was priced at $135 per share. Strong investor demand sent the price soaring nearly 20 percent on its first day, bringing SpaceX’s market value to over $2 trillion. The share price has continued to rise since then, pushing the company's value above $2.5 trillion as of June 17, 2026.
Because Musk still owns 42 percent of SpaceX, the stock listing added hundreds of billions of dollars to his personal fortune. Experts estimate he is now worth over $1.3 trillion.
To put it in perspective, that is $1 trillion more than the net worth of the world’s second-richest person, Google co-founder Larry Page. In fact, Musk’s wealth now exceeds the economies of all but 19 countries in the world.
The path to the trillion-dollar mark
Musk's rise to a trillion-dollar fortune took decades and included both major successes and near failures. Growing up in South Africa, he became interested in computers at a young age and taught himself to code. By the time he was 12, he had already built and sold a video game to a magazine.
In 1992, Musk moved to the United States to study at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned degrees in physics and business. After graduating, he relocated to California and started a software company that was sold in 1999, making him a multi-millionaire. Instead of keeping the money, Musk invested it in an online banking company that later became PayPal. It was bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, earning him about $180 million from the sale.
Once again, Musk invested much of this fortune into two new companies. He put $100 million into SpaceX in 2002 and $70 million into Tesla in 2004. By 2008, both companies were running out of money. To make matters worse, SpaceX’s first three rocket launches had all failed. Not one to give up, Musk used much of his remaining wealth to keep both businesses alive.
His conviction paid off. In September 2008, SpaceX successfully launched its fourth rocket into orbit. This led to a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. Around the same time, Tesla secured the funding it needed to begin building its first mass-market car.
Musk initially joined the list of the world's richest people in 2012 with $2 billion. By 2024, Tesla’s soaring stock pushed his wealth past $400 billion. From there, his fortune continued to climb, eventually making him the world’s first-ever trillionaire.
Resources: theguardian.com, Wikipedia.org, CNN.com
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15 Comments
ruby55412 daysI'm going to make Tesla for work to make a lot of money.
dog8812 daysI bet Rockefeller would be a trillionaire by today's standards.
ilovehenrydsaf113 daysfirst to comment! I thought he was already a trillionare.
