Elon Musk, often described as a modern-day Thomas Edison, could soon add an unprecedented title to his list of achievements: that of the world’s first billionaire. Tesla’s sleek cars and futuristic trucks have defined his public image, but SpaceX is the real driver of his growing net worth.
Buzz around a possible IPO valued at $1.5 trillion for the high-flying government contractor has emerged as the biggest driver in the entrepreneur’s net worth, just as Tesla shareholders approved a massive, performance-based compensation package that could significantly increase his stake in the electric car maker. Together, these developments have evolved Musk’s path to extreme wealth from incremental gains to a handful of high-stakes business milestones.
Elon Musk’s net worth jumped nearly 50% year over year to an estimated $645 billion. In October, he became the first individual to surpass $500 billion in net worth, propelled by SpaceX’s rising private market valuations and renewed confidence in Tesla’s long-term strategy. If Musk meets the ambitious performance goals linked to his Tesla compensation plan and SpaceX continues on its current trajectory, it could cross the trillion-dollar mark.
Such an accomplishment would test the upper limits of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, created and named when the idea of a billionaire still seemed unfathomable and absurd. Now this is no longer the case. Musk has been brought to the forefront before, most recently by Forbesas the wealth creation maestro of this era.
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SpaceX, which has invested aggressively in reusable rockets, launch infrastructure and satellites, is the main lever in the trillion equation. Musk owns about 42% of the privately held rocket and satellite company, whose recent secondary stock transactions have valued it at between $350 billion and $800 billion in private markets; that makes his stake worth about $136 billion to more than $300 billion on paper today. The real benefit comes from long-term growth and the potential of a public offering; If SpaceX is listed at the valuations some analysts predict (up to around $1.5 trillion), Musk’s stake alone could exceed $600 billion, significantly reshaping his net worth.
Indeed, Starlink quickly became the financial backbone of SpaceX. The satellite Internet service added 1 million new customers in less than seven weeks, bringing its total to more than 9 million active users in 155 countries and territories, according to the company, implying a growth rate of more than 20,000 new users per day since early November.
This momentum caps an explosive year. As of December 2024, SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers; by August 2025, this figure had risen to 7 million, before accelerating sharply in recent months. The service now operates on a constellation of more than 9,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, enabling high-speed connectivity in rural, maritime, air and defense-critical regions beyond the reach of traditional networks (I, for one, can now use Wi-Fi on routes to and from New York and Hawaii, even over the Pacific Ocean – something that was previously impossible – thanks to Starlink.)
Musk said Starlink is now “by far” the biggest driver of SpaceX’s revenue – a distinction that has significantly changed how investors value the company.
While SpaceX and Starlink represent the transformational advantage, Tesla remains a critical part of Musk’s wealth trajectory. His 2018 compensation plan, reinstated after the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that overturned it, allows Musk to vest stock options tied to ambitious operational and market capitalization milestones. Most of these steps have already been taken, giving Musk the right to purchase about 304 million shares of Tesla stock at deeply discounted prices, currently valued at about $139 billion.
Additionally, Tesla shareholders also approved a new performance-based compensation plan, further increasing Musk’s upside potential and solidifying his control over the company. If fully realized, these plans could add hundreds of billions of dollars in theoretical value, although the actual gain depends on the achievement of aggressive targets and public market conditions.
In total, the new performance plan allows Musk to unlock value as Tesla begins to monetize AI-based initiatives, including fully autonomous driving, autonomous fleet operations, and robotics.
In this framework, Tesla serves as an accelerator rather than the main driver of Musk’s net worth. Its gains are significant but incremental, limited by stock performance, earnings multiples and investor sentiment. SpaceX, by contrast, offers the potential for sudden transformative gains: an IPO, Starlink expansion, or secondary market price overhaul could add hundreds of billions almost overnight.
“As we approach 2026, this will mark a monster year for Tesla and Musk as the chapter on autonomy and robotics begins,” writes analyst Dan Ives in his latest report on Top 5 names that will drive the AI revolution until 2026. “AI valuation will begin to be unlocked, and we believe the march toward AI-driven valuation for Tesla over the next six to nine months has now begun, with full self-driving and self-driving penetration of Tesla’s installed base and the acceleration of Cybercab in the US representing the golden goose for Musk & Co. We believe Tesla could reach a market cap of $2 trillion over the coming year, and in a scenario bullish, $3 trillion by the end of 2026.”
Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, Musk has stakes in several companies that extend both financial advantages and strategic influence, positioning him in AI, social platforms, neurotechnology and infrastructure:
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xAI: Founded in 2023, xAI is Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, in which he retains a majority stake. The company is focused on developing cutting-edge AI models and applications that complement Musk’s broader ecosystem, including social media platform xAI represents a strategic play to position Musk alongside leading AI players like OpenAI, while creating new revenue streams through AI-based products and services. Its integration with X also allows Musk to leverage social data to accelerate AI training and deployment.
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X (formerly Twitter): After purchasing Twitter for $44 billion, Musk renamed it X and reoriented it toward AI-driven engagement, monetization, and information distribution. Although it was valued at $33 billion when acquired by xAI, its strategic importance extends beyond its valuation. Now, This integration allows X to function as a distribution layer for xAI, a live data source for training AI models, and a testbed for monetization strategies that could extend to advertising, subscription, and standalone content moderation technologies.
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NOTREPLAL: Musk’s neurotechnology company is developing brain-computer interface (BCI) technology to integrate human cognition into AI systems. Musk retains a majority stake, with valuations between $5 billion and $9 billion. If the technology achieves commercial viability, it could revolutionize healthcare, human-machine interaction and cognitive augmentation, providing outsized strategic and financial benefits.
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The boring society: This tunneling and infrastructure company is valued between $5 and $7 billion. Although smaller than Musk’s other holdings, The Boring Company exemplifies his approach to disruptive infrastructure solutions, including urban transportation tunnels, hyperloop development, and city-scale transportation projects.
In true Musk fashion, the company was inspired when Musk was stuck in Los Angeles traffic.
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