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

Tesla, Inc. Elon Musk, the visionary behind (TSLA), SpaceX, xAI, and more, has already cemented his place as the world’s richest person and is now poised to become its first trillionaire. His net worth has surpassed $500 billion, thanks to the rising valuations of private companies like Tesla and SpaceX.

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

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

What made Elon Musk the richest person in the world?

According to the Forbes website, Elon Musk’s rise to the top of the billionaires rankings stems from his role as a serial entrepreneur, co-founding seven companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI. He owns about 12 percent of Tesla, which he first backed in 2004 and has led as CEO since 2008. In 2024, a Delaware judge invalidated a 2018 agreement that gave Musk options for an additional 9 percent of Tesla; Forbes discounted these options by 50 percent over Musk’s objection.

Musk also owns a 42 percent stake in SpaceX, the private rocket company he founded in 2002, valued at $400 billion according to a private tender offer in August 2025.
It acquired Twitter in 2022 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, which focuses on tunneling, and Neuralink, a brain implant startup; Together they have raised nearly $2 billion from private investors.
With shareholders approving Tesla’s historic pay package, Musk will add up to $1 trillion in potential stock grants over the next decade; That amount is contingent on achieving ambitious performance milestones, including the launch of humanoid robots and the expansion of Tesla’s autonomous driving business.
If all targets are met, the payout could push Musk over the trillion-dollar mark and solidify his position as not only the richest person in the world today, but also potentially the first trillionaire in history.