Elon Musk becomes the first person to reach a net worth of US$400 billion

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk has reached a net worth of $400 billion, according to Bloomberg. (Allison Robbert / Pool / Reuters / File via CNN Newsource)

New York — The richest person in the world just hit an even higher milestone.

Elon Musk’s net worth has reached US$400 billion, according to Bloomberg, making him the first person ever to cross that mark.

Behind his nearly US$20 billion jump in wealth was a deal that shot up Musk’s rocket company SpaceX’s valuation to roughly US$350 billion, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. SpaceX and its investors agreed to purchase as much as US$1.25 billion of insider shares.

CNN has reached out to SpaceX for comment, but the company typically does not respond to media requests.

Since the aftermath of the 2024 US presidential election, Musk has enjoyed a huge surge in his personal wealth.

An alliance with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has pushed his ventures to the forefront. Musk is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as the owner of X and CEO of other ventures, including Neuralink, xAI and the Boring Company. Now, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, he will oversee a new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), named after a memecoin.

Tesla shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, hitting US$424.77 at market close. Musk, who is Tesla’s largest individual shareholder, has also enjoyed the stock propelling higher in part due to the broader market — NASDAQ topped 20,000 for the first time ever Wednesday. Since Election Day, the EV maker’s stock has rallied roughly 65 per cent on investors’ belief that Musk’s influence in the Trump administration will usher in an era of deregulation that will benefit the company.

His artificial intelligence startup, xAI, also more than doubled in value in November amid a new funding round, surging to $50 billion from a few months ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The world’s wealthiest man is now roughly US$136 billion richer since November 5, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

While the top spots on the billionaires index typically switch around, Musk is racing past his wealthy peers. As of December 10, before his wealth skyrocketed to US$400 billion, he was already US$140 billion richer than the second-richest man on Earth, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Musk’s record-breaking Tesla-shareholder-approved pay package, which was worth US$101 billion, was rejected by a Delaware court last week.

Bloomberg’s calculation still seems to include the pay package, which is now worth as much as US$120 billion based on the current value of Tesla shares.

But Musk will still enjoy his riches, with numerous ways to gain significantly more wealth in the coming years.