How Is Tesla CEO Elon Musk The First Person Worth US$500bn?

The richest person on the planet, Elon Musk, is now worth half-a-trillion dollars, as the value of Tesla and his other businesses have risen this year.

According to Forbes, Elon achieved the milestone at 3:30pm New York time on 1 October 2025 when the EV maker’s shares climbed by nearly 4%.

Musk became the first person to be worth US$400bn in December 2024, but his value now puts him ahead of Larry Ellison, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Oracle, by US$150bn.

Larry is the world’s second richest person, according to Forbes’ billionaire index, with a net worth of just over US$350bn.

The pair have been competing for the top spot – in September the CTO briefly overtook Musk when Oracle shares soared by more than 40% due to its cloud infrastructure business and AI deals.

Analysing Musk’s portfolio

Musk’s huge value is linked to his 12% stake in Tesla, which is now worth US$191bn due to the company’s market cap being back within 10% of its high it hit in December, Forbes reports.

Forbes also indicates that Musk’s many other business ventures contribute tohis incredible fortune – including SpaceX, his space technology firm and the newly formed xAI Holdings.

SpaceX, founded in 2002, is worth US$400bn based on a private tender offer in August.

His 42% estimated stake in the company is worth US$168bn, thanks to the company’s value increasing by US$150bn at the end of last year.

Musk’s AI company xAI has launched multiple models this year, including its Grok 4 AI, which he described on a livestream at the start of July as “smarter than almost all graduate students, in all disciplines, simultaneously”.

In March 2025, the CEO formed xAI Holdings – a merger between his AI company and X, formerly Twitter, which he acquired in 2022.

This deal valued the newly-formed company at US$113bn, and Forbes estimates he owns a 53% stake – worth US$60bn.

Musk’s wealth in the spotlight

Beyond the net-worth battle between Tesla’s CEO and Oracle’s CTO, Musk’s wealth has been no stranger to the news this year.

On 15 September, Tesla proposed a US$1tn compensation package that would be the largest corporate pay award in history.

The huge offer, which is close to Tesla’s current market valuation, follows the company’s ‘Master Plan IV’ announcement – a high-level strategy for creating ‘Sustainable Abundance’ for all.

It outlines a future of reimagined labour through humanoid robots, transforming mobility and delivering more sustainable energy.

All compensation will be related to performance over the next decade and awarded as he meets goal milestones.

The first is to reach a market capitalisation of US$2tn, the following nine require an extra $500bn, while the last two each require an additional US$1tn.

But if Musk fails to double Tesla’s valuation over the next decade, the billionaire will receive no pay reward.

In response to this development at the time, Pope Leo XIV said this staggering financial compensation was a symbol of global wealth inequality.

In his first interview since becoming the Pope in May 2025, published on Catholic news website Crux, he said that this kind of wealth is undermining “the value of human life”.

“Yesterday, there was news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world”, he said. “What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble.”

But this isn’t the first time that Musk has split opinion this year.

At the start of the year, he faced criticism this year over his work with President Donald Trump administration’s Department of Governance Efficiency (DOGE) – the body tasked with reducing US government spending and cutting jobs.

Musk also had been vocal about diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, sharing his controversial opinions on his platform X.

Despite his actions causing a divide across the internet, Musk’s growth has the potential to continue growing as he commits to the future of autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots as part of Tesla’s ‘Master IV Plan’.