The world has lost its only trillionaire mere days after Elon Musk reached that rarefied status, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. The SpaceX CEO saw his fortunes shrink by more than $100 billion overnight as the company erased over $600 billion in market value within just three trading sessions. A wild weekday ride caused SpaceX shares to cross below $150 — the level at which they first opened on the tech giant’s IPO day — and pushed the tech CEO back down to Earth.
Musk had reached trillionaire status earlier this month as SpaceX made a blockbuster debut on the NASDAQ. The rocket company had reached a valuation of nearly $3 trillion by June 16, before beginning its descent amid a global tech rout. Musk acknowledges that SpaceX will have to spend heavily to fulfill its plans of sending AI data centers into space, and the company has announced that part of an upcoming bond offering will fund its AI buildout.
SpaceX wasn’t the only company Musk co-founded that was hit this week. Even Tesla shares slumped around 5% by midday as the automotive giant is embroiled in a new US safety probe after a Tesla Model 3 crashed into a Texas home and killed a 76-year-old woman while reportedly using an advanced driver assistance system on June 19.
Despite losing more than $350 billion within three days, Musk remains at the top of wealth rankings. Indeed, his new (and lowered) net worth is higher than the next three wealthiest individuals combined.
What is Elon Musk’s net worth now?
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Musk is now worth $957 billion, even though Forbes still estimates the Tesla and SpaceX boss’s net worth at $1.1 trillion. Data from the realtime tracking site indicates that he lost a whopping $118 billion within a span of hours. To put this into perspective, the richest man in India (Gautam Adani) has a cumulative net worth of $117 billion.
He currently holds a roughly 38% stake in SpaceX, including 4.8 billion shares and an additional 350 million stock options with an exercise price of $8.40 per share.
Similarly, Bloomberg’s figures regard the rocket company as Musk’s most valuable asset, noting his shares were worth $744 billion as of Tuesday, accounting for nearly 80% of his net worth. On the other hand, his stake in Tesla, worth $158 billion, was also impacted by the ups and downs in the share market.
Elon Musk’s net worth remains untouchable despite SpaceX’s selloff
As the largest shareholder of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, Musk soared to trillionaire status on June 12, shortly after his spaceflight, telecommunications, and artificial intelligence company made its historic stock market debut, valuing it at more than $2 trillion.
The rocket company eventually peaked at about $2.99 trillion on June 16. However, Forbes reported Monday that its market value dropped about $928 billion this week, leaving a significant dent on Musk’s net worth. As SpaceX plunged 16.4% on Monday, more than $152 billion was wiped out from the richest man’s net worth, according to Forbes estimates.
Regardless of how short of billions of dollars Musk’s net worth was on Bloomberg’s or Forbes’ index, there’s no denying a significant gap remains between his wealth and that of the second-richest person in the world, Google co-founder Larry Page. Bloomberg estimates his net worth at $297 billion, while Forbes lists it as $284.1 billion.
Given that Forbes’ estimation upheld Musk as the first and only trillionaire in the world despite a sharp selloff in SpaceX shares, economist Peter Schiff wrote in a post on X that there was no need to “feel sorry for him.”
His social media commentary read: “$SPCX fell 16.5%. On paper, @elonmusk lost about $150 billion, more than Warren Buffett’s entire net worth. However, he’s still the world’s only trillionaire.”