Elon Musk is the world’s first trillionaire

There are thousands Of billionaires around the world. But there is only one trillionaire.

Elon Musk became the first person to amass a personal fortune of more than $1,000,000,000,000 – that’s 12 zeros – after his rocket company SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq on Friday.

SpaceX’s initial public offering on Thursday valued the company at about $1.8 trillion, up from a recent private valuation of about $1.25 trillion. After shares opened at $150 on Friday morning in New York and continued to rise, SpaceX’s market value reached about $2.2 trillion.

Between Musk’s large ownership stakes in SpaceX, the car company Tesla, and several other ventures, his personal coffers have expanded enough to push him into the trillions territory, according to Bloomberg and Forbes, which conduct extensive research to determine the world’s richest individuals. In 2024, his net worth exceeds $400 billion, according to Bloomberg, meaning it has nearly tripled in less than two years. (Important caveat: Musk does not have $1 trillion in his bank accounts. Most of his wealth is tied up in stocks, some of which he is prohibited from selling anytime soon. He has also pledged to eventually give away half of his fortune.)

He remains a reviled figure in many circles, including his efforts last year to dismantle parts of the US government and his years spent promoting and permitting hate speech through his social media presence. To protest the IPO, an activist group inflated a giant effigy of Musk in New York’s Times Square this week.

In addition to Musk, Forbes estimates the wealth of 3,350 people it considers to be mere billionaires, ranging from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos near the top to music mogul Dr. Dre at the bottom. Meanwhile, Bloomberg tracks the 500 richest billionaires.

Musk is now three times richer than his closest rival, the founders of Google, according to estimates. Potential upcoming IPOs for generative AI labs OpenAI and Anthropic will foster at least a few additional billionaires, but won’t bring anyone anywhere near Musk’s orbit. Retail investors who buy SpaceX shares now certainly won’t get rich right away, and neither will people who live near xAI’s dirty data centers.

As long as SpaceX continues to successfully move people, cargo and data between Earth and space without facing little competition, Musk will remain in a league of his own.