Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and the world’s richest person, has reached a new milestone in wealth. According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires tracker, Musk briefly achieved a net worth of $500.1 billion on Wednesday before it dipped back to $499.1 billion. The surge makes him the first individual in history to cross the $500 billion threshold and places him halfway toward becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
The increase in Musk’s fortune comes as Tesla shares rebound strongly following months of turbulence linked to his political forays and market volatility. His other ventures, including SpaceX and emerging technologies, have also contributed to his growing wealth.
Musk’s journey to this point has been anything but ordinary. Born in South Africa, he pursued studies in economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania before briefly enrolling at Stanford University. He dropped out after just two days, chasing opportunities in the early internet boom.
His first success came in 1999 when he sold Zip2, an online publishing software company, to Compaq for more than $300 million. Musk later co-founded X.com, an online payment company that merged with PayPal and was eventually sold to eBay.
In 2002, Musk launched SpaceX, aiming to reduce the costs of space travel and eventually colonize Mars. Two years later, he became chairman of Tesla, which under his leadership has revolutionized the electric vehicle industry and reshaped global transportation.
At 54, Musk continues to expand his empire beyond cars and rockets, with projects ranging from brain-computer interfaces at Neuralink to tunnel transport systems with The Boring Company.
While the journey to $1 trillion remains long, Musk’s current position reflects both the power of innovation and the risks of tying personal wealth to volatile industries. Still, if Tesla and SpaceX maintain their momentum, the world could soon witness history’s first trillionaire.
