Elon Musk’s estimated net worth has climbed back above $1 trillion after rallies in SpaceX and Tesla shares restored tens of billions of dollars to the technology entrepreneur’s fortune.
Musk’s wealth jumped by about $65 billion on Monday to $1.04 trillion, marking the first time in roughly three months that his estimated fortune had crossed the trillion-dollar threshold. The increase came as the value of his holdings in his two largest companies rose sharply.
SpaceX shares have gained about 13 per cent since the beginning of October, while Tesla advanced 6.7 per cent over the same period. SpaceX has also recovered about 58 per cent from its August low after suffering a sharp decline following its record-breaking stock market debut in June.
Musk became the first person in history to reach an estimated net worth of $1 trillion after SpaceX went public in June. The company raised about $86 billion in the largest initial public offering in U.S. history, but its shares subsequently fell amid concerns that the rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company had been valued too aggressively.
At one stage, the decline wiped more than $600 billion from Musk’s paper wealth compared with its peak. His fortune remains particularly sensitive to movements in SpaceX and Tesla because the two holdings account for more than 98 per cent of his estimated net worth.
The latest recovery has been supported by renewed investor optimism over SpaceX’s expansion beyond rockets and satellite communications into artificial intelligence and large-scale computing infrastructure. Analysts have also become more positive about the company’s valuation, helping push its shares further above their June IPO price.
Tesla has provided an additional boost after reporting stronger-than-expected third-quarter vehicle sales. The electric-vehicle company remains one of Musk’s largest assets, meaning relatively small movements in its share price can add or subtract billions of dollars from his estimated fortune.
SpaceX, meanwhile, is pursuing an increasingly ambitious AI strategy and is in talks to raise as much as $40 billion through loans and investment-grade debt to finance purchases of Nvidia chips for its expanding data centres. The plan underlines how rapidly the company is moving into computing alongside its established rocket and Starlink businesses.
Musk remains the world’s wealthiest individual by the major billionaire wealth trackers, although such estimates can change significantly from day to day as publicly traded shares move and private-company valuations are reassessed.
