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Elon Musk is now the world\u2019s first trillionaire after SpaceX\u2019s public markets debut on Friday, according to Bloomberg News.<\/p>\n
The SpaceX founder and CEO owned roughly $860 billion worth of the rocket company\u2019s stock after it was priced at $135 per share just ahead of the IPO. Combined with his stake in Tesla, and the immediate pop of SpaceX\u2019s stock on Friday after it began trading, that\u2019s enough to give the tech magnate \u2014 already the richest person in the world \u2014 an on-paper wealth of more than $1,000,000,000,000.<\/p>\n
SpaceX\u2019s stock continued to climb on Friday in early trading, adding to Musk\u2019s wealth.<\/p>\n
Musk\u2019s ascendance to trillionaire status comes at a time when he is more disliked<\/a> and more powerful than ever.<\/p>\n Musk spent much of 2024 funding Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign, to the tune of around $300 million. He then got involved in the Trump administration, leading the so-called \u201cDepartment of Government Efficiency\u201d \u2014 which, by all accounts, did not cut overall government spending and mostly involved canceling a number of contracts with little review or care for their contents.<\/p>\n Musk also led the dismantling of whole departments like USAID, a decision that the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says has already led to hundreds of thousands of deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n There is more wealth coming to Musk. <\/p>\n Last year, he was awarded a pay package by Tesla\u2019s shareholders that could be worth $1 trillion on its own, provided he grows that company\u2019s valuation and hits certain operational milestones. And while 1 billion of his SpaceX shares cannot be sold unless the company creates a human colony on Mars, Musk can borrow against those shares in the meantime. That means he could quickly access billions of dollars in cash before reaching that goal (which SpaceX itself says is \u201cimprobable\u201d), and without paying taxes on that wealth.<\/p>\n And while SpaceX is now going to have public shareholders, Musk will enjoy immense power<\/a> as the company pursues what it calls the largest addressable market in history. He owns more than 80% of the voting control, can hand-select the board of directors, and has structured the company in a way that severely limits any legal challenges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n