Net Worth

Elon Musk Net Worth: Who Is No 1 Richest Person in the World?

Lakshmi

elon musk net worth

Elon Musk is a Canadian-American businessman, inventor, and investor who was born in South Africa. Elon Musk is worth 250 billion dollars. He is most known for being the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, the CEO and principal product architect of Tesla Motors, and the chairman of SolarCity. He wears multiple jobs and is continuously topping his next project. He is the world’s wealthiest individual and the wealthiest person in contemporary history.

Elon Musk currently controls around 24 percent of Tesla’s outstanding shares and 43 percent of privately held SpaceX. Tesla’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in October 2021. In the same month, SpaceX raised $100 billion in funding. Elon’s net worth approached $300 billion for the first time at this time.

Early Years

Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa on June 28, 1971. Musk purchased his first computer at age 10 and learned to code. At age 12, he sold his first piece of software, a game he built called Blaster. In 1989, at age 17, he relocated to Canada to attend Queen’s University, but he departed in 1992 to pursue business and physics studies at the University of Pennsylvania Musk earned an undergraduate degree in economics before pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in physics and a doctorate in energy physics. However, he left Stanford University to participate in the internet boom.

Personal Facts

Elon has been married three times, including twice to actress Talulah Riley. From 2000 to 2008, he was married to Canadian author Justine Wilson. They share five children. Additionally, he has had romantic relationships with actress Amber Heard and Canadian singer Grimes. Grimes and Elon welcomed a son named X A-Xii in May of 2020.

Success

Zip2 Corporation, Musk’s first startup, was an online city guide. In 1999, a Compaq Computer company paid $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options to acquire Zip2. Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services/payments startup, in 1999 as well. In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, following the subsequent year’s acquisition of X.com, which led to the formation of the current PayPal.

Musk launched Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) in 2002 to manufacture spacecraft for commercial space travel. In 2008, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, with plans for astronaut transport shortly.

Next was Tesla Motors, an automobile manufacturer committed to mass-producing inexpensive electric vehicles. In 2003, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla. The company’s first workers were Elon, Ian Wright, and J.B. Straubel, who were retrospectively recognized, co-founders.

Tesla Motors had its first public offering in June 2010, raising $226 million. Daimler had acquired a share in the company, and the company had partnered with Toyota. Musk and SpaceX made history in 2012 when they successfully launched an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket into space.

In 2013, he proposed a new mode of transportation called the Hyperloop, which would allow commuters to travel between large cities at speeds exceeding 700 mph. In a contrast to railroads, the Hyperloop would convey passengers via tubes. Musk estimates that the Hyperloop may be constructed, tested, and operational between seven to ten years.

Compensation Plan for Tesla

In January of 2018, Tesla’s board of directors revealed Musk’s compensation plan, which would ultimately be worth $100 billion. The deal stipulated that Musk would get up to $100 billion in 12-tranches of stock options over a decade. The first tranche of options will be given when Tesla’s market capitalization reaches $100 billion (roughly double the value when the plan was announced). From that point forward, Elon earned another installment if the company’s market capitalization increased by $50 billion.

If he had failed to meet any of the twelve milestones, he would have earned no reward.

Elon unlocked all 12 tranches of the compensation plan within three years when Tesla’s market cap soared beyond $1 trillion for the first time in October 2021.

Tesla Income

Elon does not get a salary as Tesla’s CEO. Instead, he has a highly unusual and highly profitable bonus structure related to the company’s market capitalization milestones. When the strategy was formulated, Tesla was valued at approximately $50 billion. There are twelve milestones based on market capitalization rises of $50 billion. Elon reached every single milestone and is, therefore, eligible to get the entire $100 billion incentive. By this plan, shares are issued quarterly when the Board of Directors acknowledges that the milestone has been attained.

Net Worth History

  • Elon’s net worth on January 1, 2020, was $28 billion. His net wealth by the end of 2020 was $170 billion.
  • On July 10, 2020, Elon’s net worth surpassed $70 billion for the first time. Approximately $15 billion was attributable to SpaceX at that time, while the remaining $55 billion was attributed to Tesla.
  • When Elon’s net worth surpassed $80 billion for the first time on July 13, 2020, $15 billion came from SpaceX and $65 billion came from Tesla.
  • Elon’s net worth surpassed $90 billion for the first time in August of 2020, due to two significant causes. First, Tesla shares reached an all-time high of $1,900 in mid-August. At that point, the company’s market capitalization was 350 billion dollars. The value of Elon’s 20 percent ownership was $70 billion. The second element was SpaceX’s officially confirmed valuation hike on August 18, 2020. SpaceX’s private valuation rose from $36 billion to $46 billion as a result of the fundraising round. At a value of $46 billion, Elon’s 48 percent ownership adds $22 billion in pre-tax wealth to Elon’s total net worth.
  • Elon’s net worth surpassed $100 billion for the first time on November 17, 2020. At that time, he became the third-richest person on the planet, surpassing Mark Zuckerberg for the first time.
  • Elon’s net worth surpassed $128 billion for the first time on November 24, 2020. At that moment, he became the second-richest person in the world, surpassing Bill Gates for the first time. On that date, he was $54 billion short of Jeff Bezos’ net worth of $184 billion, and his net worth had climbed by $100 billion since January 1, 2020.
  • Elon’s wealth reached $195 billion on January 7, 2021. On this day, Elon first surpassed Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world.
  • On January 8, 2021, Elon concluded the week with a net worth of $210 billion, up from $170 billion at the beginning of the week.
  • Elon’s net worth was $300 billion in October 2021, when Tesla’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion and SpaceX’s valuation was $100 billion.
  • Elon Musk’s net worth was $335 billion on November 1, 2021, when Tesla’s market valuation exceeded $1.2 trillion.

Elon Musk Net Worth Details

At the time of writing, Elon Musk owned 43% of rocket manufacturer SpaceX and 24% of Tesla.

Musk revealed in a 2019 legal deposition that he is cash-poor and that 99 percent of his fortune is linked to Tesla and SpaceX stock. The lawsuit also revealed Musk’s $56,380 base compensation at Tesla. Most years, he declines the wage offer. Musk had $500 million in debt at the time of the litigation, with the majority owed to Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Approximately $60 million or more of his Morgan Stanley debt was mortgage-related. Since then, he has sold the majority of his properties and repaid this mortgage debt.

According to reports, he spent all of his liquid assets from past business transactions to create SpaceX.

Real Estate Investments

Elon once owned real estate worth $100 million in California alone. In the town of Hillsborough in Northern California, he continues to own a 100-year-old, 16,000-square-foot home situated on approximately 50 acres. In 2017, he purchased the property for $23.364 million.

In Southern California, he formerly owned six properties in the Bel-Air district of Los Angeles. His Bel-Air footprint consisted of a 20,000-square-foot home that he purchased for $17 million in 2012, a 7,000-square-foot home that he purchased for $20 million in 2015, and a 9,300-square-foot home that he acquired for $24.25 million in 2016.

Elon surprised the world in 2020 when he announced his decision to sell all of his goods, beginning with his Los Angeles mansions. By his promise, he proceeded to sell each residence. In December 2020, he sold four residences at once to a single buyer.

Summary

The net worth of Elon Musk is $290 billion. At the time of writing, this makes him one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. The source of Musk’s wealth is his 24 percent investment in Tesla and his 43 percent stake in privately-held SpaceX. Musk is very cash-strapped and owes Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs an estimated $500 million in debt.