According to the real-time data of Forbes as of this past Saturday (December 20th), the personal net worth of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has officially surpassed $749 billion. This not only signifies his victory in the largest compensation legal battle in business history but also establishes him as the first individual in the history of human civilization to break the $700 billion mark in wealth, a fortune size comparable to the annual GDP of a medium-developed country.
In a crucial ruling on Friday (December 19th), the Supreme Court of Delaware overturned a previous decision to cancel Musk’s 2018 Tesla compensation plan. The court deemed the plan, although of significant amount, to be rational in terms of procedure and shareholder interests. This means Musk has regained the stock options originally referred to as “$56 billion”. With the long-term growth of Tesla’s stock price, the current value has soared to around $146 billion.
Combining his original holdings of Tesla stock, Tesla has contributed approximately $312 billion in asset value to Musk (including vested options), reaching a new peak in wealth accumulation in the electric vehicle and autonomous driving fields.
Apart from the legal victory, Musk’s space exploration technology company, SpaceX, completed a new round of internal equity transfers in December, doubling its valuation from $400 billion in August to $800 billion. This increase significantly inflates the value of the 42% stake held by Musk.
Currently, the asset value contributed by SpaceX has reached around $336 billion, officially surpassing Tesla and becoming the core wealth pillar in Musk’s asset portfolio. Along with other assets he owns, such as the social platform X and the artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI, they collectively help build his $749 billion wealth empire.
Looking back to September of this year, Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, briefly surpassed Musk with a wealth of approximately $393 billion due to the surge in Oracle’s stock price driven by the AI wave. However, with Musk’s legal wins and SpaceX’s skyrocketing valuation at the end of the year, he has reestablished a significant lead, surpassing the combined wealth of the second, third, and fourth spots on the list.
The following is the real-time list of the top ten richest people in the world according to Forbes:
Market analysts widely anticipate that with the continuous surge in revenue from SpaceX’s Starlink and plans for an IPO in 2026, Musk is highly likely to challenge for the title of the world’s first trillionaire within the next year.