First trillionaire in history: Elon Musk’s path to the milestone
Photo: US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk (Getty Images)
The fortune of SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk has approached the $970 billion mark. An expected listing of SpaceX shares on the stock market could make him the world’s first trillionaire, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The speed of the businessman’s wealth growth is hard to comprehend: over 31 years of his career, Elon Musk has earned approximately $992 per second. This means his account grows by nearly $60,000 per minute. Each hour brings him $3.6 million, and per day the amount reaches $85.7 million.
Read also: SpaceX wants to build factories in Earth orbit: Details about new Starfall spacecraft
If calculated annually, his income amounts to $31.3 billion. An average American family would need to work for over 11 million years to accumulate such capital. Not to retire wealthy — but simply to reach the amount owned by one person.
What Musk’s empire consists of
Most of the businessman’s money is not in a safe, but numbers on stock market screens. Almost all of his capital is tied up in shares. The largest portion of his wealth comes from his stake in SpaceX, valued at $538 billion even before the company goes public.
Tesla adds another $167 billion to its net worth. Musk also holds $150 billion in options, which he can exercise at any time.
His competitors are far behind:
- Jeff Bezos holds $276 billion
- Larry Ellison has $243 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg controls $219 billion
In addition to core assets, Musk owns real estate and aircraft worth $104 billion. His companies, The Boring Company and Neuralink, add another $5 billion each.
Comparison with entire national economies
Elon Musk’s capital exceeds the annual GDP of 125 countries. He is wealthier than Norway, Thailand, Argentina, or even his native South Africa. His fortune is roughly equal to 3% of the entire US economy.
Even the legendary John Rockefeller at the peak of his power owned only 1.5% of the country’s GDP.
For $970 billion, one could buy:
- all 32 NFL teams
- every NBA team
- a fleet of 10,000 Gulfstream G700 private jets
- FedEx, Starbucks, and Target companies along with millions of their employees
Even after such purchases, Musk would still have more than $500 billion left.
Expert Ingrid Robeyns calculated that if Musk worked 70 hours per week without vacations until age 75, he would effectively earn about $4.2 million per hour throughout his entire career.
What about Ukraine?
If we take Ukraine’s state budget for 2026 (or recent wartime years, as they are record-high due to international aid and defense spending), it amounts to approximately $90–95 billion per year.
Musk, if he chose to spend it, could fully fund Ukraine in wartime conditions for 10.5 years. In peacetime, his wealth would be enough to cover 17 years of the country’s needs.
At the same time, if Musk decided to simply distribute all his money among Ukrainians (assuming a population of 35 million), each person would receive about $28,500.
The trap of paper wealth
Such wealth carries risks — it is a bet on how the market values assets every day. Musk can borrow billions using his holdings as collateral, but a significant part of his fortune still exists only on paper.
Tesla shares often fluctuate. One bad financial report could wipe out hundreds of billions of Musk’s wealth overnight.
Such extreme concentration of ownership attracts regulatory attention. History shows examples of governments forcibly breaking up such fortunes. However, the IPO of SpaceX is now expected to be the moment of truth.
The WSJ article emphasizes the core idea: Musk’s wealth is not a salary. It is ownership of a stake in something that keeps growing. That is both his talent and his risk. What the market gives on paper, it can take away just as quickly.
What else to know about Elon Musk and his companies
We previously reported that on the X platform, owned by Musk, additional strict limits are being introduced on user activity for those without paid verification. Users without a blue checkmark now have a limited number of posts and replies per day.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has revealed plans for new large-scale investments. Regulatory filings (SEC) indicate that the company intends to establish its own AI graphics processor manufacturing.
