By Manya Saini and Niket Nishant
June 11 (Reuters) – Few business leaders are as deeply embedded in popular culture as Elon Musk, the ambitious entrepreneur who has become the central figure of internet culture and amassed a fortune that has made him the world’s first trillionaire.
At a time when concerns about inequality are high and public attitudes toward the ultra-rich are souring, Musk has managed to maintain a loyal following despite his extraordinary net worth and the friendly personality that has endeared other businessmen like Warren Buffett to the masses.
While fans see Musk’s unfiltered style as part of his appeal, critics have accused him of wielding oligarch-like power, raised concerns about governance at his companies, and objected to his increasingly partisan political interventions.
Still, SpaceX, the sprawling rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company that along with electric car maker Tesla is the centerpiece of Musk’s empire, raised a record $75 billion in its initial public offering on Thursday, underscoring investors’ enthusiasm for his business ventures. Before the stock sale, Forbes estimated his net worth at roughly $780 billion; This was far ahead of the next name, Alphabet co-founder Larry Page.
“The second-richest person’s fortune is around $300 billion, less than a third of Musk’s potential value tomorrow,” said Forbes Wealth deputy editor Matt Durot. “And just one other person, (Oracle founder) Larry Ellison, is worth $400 billion.”
The bulk of Musk’s wealth is in SpaceX, where he now owns shares worth approximately $866 billion. Along with Tesla and his other properties, his net worth will exceed $1.1 trillion when the stock begins trading on Friday, according to calculations by Forbes and Reuters based on company filings.
Musk became a household name through Tesla and SpaceX before expanding his influence by purchasing social media platform Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. The deal gave it a direct channel to hundreds of millions of users and made it a prominent voice on issues ranging from politics and immigration to government spending and free speech.
His foray into politics, particularly his role in US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency last year, has been among his most contentious ventures. The political fallout coincides with Tesla sales weakening in several international markets in 2025 as protests and consumer boycotts target the electric vehicle maker.
ELON PREMIUM
54-year-old Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, to a Canadian mother and a South African father. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1997.
He took over as CEO of Tesla in 2008 with the belief that electric vehicles could help redefine the global automotive industry by combining high performance with software-driven features. Some auto industry observers say Tesla’s success and its trillion-dollar-plus market cap is helping traditional automakers pivot to electric cars.
Many investors believe they can replicate this success in space and artificial intelligence. But SpaceX remains strapped for cash, and much of the company’s valuation is based on technologies that could take years or decades to become commercially viable.
Musk has co-founded five companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, as well as tunneling startup The Boring Company and brain implant maker Neuralink.
As Tesla’s CEO, Musk has courted controversy and praise in equal measure. He is credited with making Tesla the world’s most valuable automaker. For years, executives at legacy automakers ignored the threat, doubting that a start-up car company could figure out how to mass-produce electric vehicles profitably.
“He renewed the world’s respect for American ingenuity in automotive engineering,” said Bob Lutz, former vice president of General Motors.
At the same time, Tesla has faced legal challenges and shareholder concerns tied to its famous CEO, particularly his 2018 pay package once worth $56 billion.
Musk’s influence has become so pervasive that market watchers have dubbed the business network around him “Muskonomi.”
This phenomenon has given rise to what some investors call the “Elon premium,” a valuation surge driven by traditional financial metrics as well as belief in Musk’s vision.
“Just like Tesla, SpaceX is counting on Elon Musk,” said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at IPO-focused research and ETF provider Renaissance Capital.
“A market cap of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion would certainly throw all traditional valuation methods out the window and instead might best be described as an ‘Elon Musk premium.'”
MUSK WITHOUT FILTER
The concentration of influence around a single entrepreneur has raised concerns about corporate governance, conflicts of interest and the risks of tying too much of the company’s fortunes to a single person.
Over the years, Musk has turned his clashes with regulators, billionaires, short sellers, journalists and media outlets including Reuters into recurring public clashes that often play out on social media.
Musk’s alliance with Trump followed a familiar path. Musk became one of the president’s closest corporate allies after helping finance Trump’s return to the White House and taking on a senior advisory role through the administration’s DOGE initiative.
The relationship later soured over disagreements over policy and spending, escalating into a public row. Although the pair have since struck a more conciliatory tone, their disagreements have revealed that the lines between Musk’s business empire and his political ambitions are increasingly blurring.
But for many investors, concerns about Musk’s often unconventional behavior are overshadowed by his track record of turning ambitious ideas into some of the world’s most valuable companies.
“Elon is the Edison of our time,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said during a recent conversation with Musk.
The banker, Musk’s former foe in a protracted legal battle, has since become a fan of his. Dimon told CNBC last year that the two were “hugging each other” and hailed Musk as “our Einstein.”
(Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Mike Colias in Detroit; Editing by Noor Zainab Hussain)
