Elon Musk has become the first individual to amass a fortune exceeding $500billion, according to Forbes’ billionaires index.
The technology entrepreneur’s net worth briefly reached $500.1billion during Wednesday afternoon trading in New York before settling at around $499billion.
The surge reflects climbing valuations across his business empire, including Tesla, SpaceX and his artificial intelligence venture xAI.
Tesla shares rose more than 3.3 per cent on Wednesday, contributing to gains exceeding 20 per cent since the year began.
The milestone solidifies Mr Musk’s position atop the global wealth rankings, widening the gap with his nearest rival.
Oracle founder Larry Ellison is ranked second with assets valued at about $350.7billion.
This represents a difference of nearly $150billion between the two business leaders.
Mr Ellison briefly overtook Mr Musk last month when Oracle shares surged more than 40 per cent on optimism over cloud computing and artificial intelligence partnerships.
Elon Musk is the first person to reach a net worth of over $500 billion, according to Forbes’ billionaire rankings
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Mr Musk’s dominant position stems from his approximately 12 per cent ownership of Tesla, which remains the cornerstone of his wealth portfolio.
His other enterprises, particularly xAI and aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, have also seen substantial valuation growth.
Investor sentiment towards Tesla has strengthened as Mr Musk has focused greater attention on corporate operations.
Tesla’s board chair Robyn Denholm confirmed in September that he was now “front and centre” at the automotive company.
Mr Musk had a public falling out with the Trump administration
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Earlier this year, his political activity attracted scrutiny after joining the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and commenting on immigration and diversity policies.
Market participants have since responded positively to his renewed emphasis on business matters.
Last month Mr Musk bought around $1billion in Tesla shares, a move interpreted as confidence in the company’s trajectory.
The board has also unveiled an extraordinary compensation package that could see him earn more than $1trillion over the next decade.
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His political activity has drawn criticism
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The arrangement is conditional on a series of ambitious goals, including expanding Tesla’s market capitalisation eightfold, selling 12 million additional vehicles and delivering one million artificial intelligence robots.
Several other performance benchmarks must also be achieved to unlock the package.
Tesla faces intensifying competition from rivals such as Chinese manufacturer BYD, alongside a major strategic pivot.
The company is seeking to expand beyond electric vehicles into artificial intelligence and robotics.