American entrepreneur Elon Musk has entered history as the first person in the world whose wealth has reached $500 billion, reports Baltimore Chronicle with a link to Forbes.
Last December, Musk became the first individual whose net worth exceeded $400 billion, and on October 1, he reached a new record milestone. He now significantly outpaces Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who ranks second on the billionaire list, by $150 billion. Forbes notes that Musk is now halfway toward becoming the world’s first trillionaire.
The sharp rise in Musk’s fortune has been driven by Tesla stock performance. On October 1 alone, Tesla shares climbed nearly 4%, adding approximately $9.3 billion to Musk’s net worth. Analysts attribute this surge to investors’ positive reaction to Musk’s decision to focus fully on Tesla after stepping down as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President Donald Trump’s administration. Since then, Tesla’s share price has nearly doubled.
Musk’s financial milestones have grown rapidly over the past five years. In March 2020, his net worth was just $24.6 billion, but by August of the same year, he became the fifth person in history to surpass $100 billion in personal wealth. In January 2021, he became the world’s richest person with nearly $190 billion. By September 2021, he was only the third individual in history to exceed $200 billion, and in December 2024, he reached $400 billion.
However, by the evening of October 1, Musk’s net worth had slightly decreased to $499.1 billion.
Earlier we wrote that Larry Ellison surpasses Elon Musk in billionaire rankings.
