A timeline of Elon Musk's astronomical net worth as Tesla CEO on track to become a trillionaire

Elon Musk is on track to become the first trillionaire as Tesla and SpaceX continue to increase in value.

Musk is one of the richest people on the planet, having become the first person to pass the net worth of $600 billion. On Monday (15 December), Musk reached an estimated net worth of $677 billion – a surge that was largely down to an increase in the valuation of his space exploration company SpaceX, with his stake at 42 per cent.

SpaceX has now become Musk’s largest asset, contributing around $168 billion to his overall fortune. He also possesses 12 per cent ownership of electric vehicle company Tesla whose stock price rose 17 per cent, despite its challenges this year.

But how did Elon Musk come to be one of the richest people ever?

A timeline of Musk's net worth

Musk was born to a wealthy family in Pretoria, South Africa. His father was an emerald dealer and was also involved in property and other ventures. His Canadian mother was a model and a dietitian.

In 1989, South African-born Musk emigrated to Canada aged 17. From there, he went to the US and dropped out of a PhD at Stanford.

By age 30, Musk was a millionaire after starting a website with his brother called Zip2 that provided newspapers with city travel guides. The business sold more over $300 million in 1999. Musk was 27 at the time and is believed to have made $22 million in the deal.

After that, in 1999, Musk cofounded bank X.com, which later merged with another venture to become PayPal. Musk is thought to have earned $165 million when it was sold to eBay in 2002.

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In 2002, Musk then co-founded SpaceX and also became an investor in Tesla. At the time of the financial crash in 2008, Musk helped Tesla stay afloat with a $40 million loan and $40 million dollar investment and was named CEO that year.

Despite a tricky 2008, in 2010, Tesla went public and his own net worth started to increase. In 2012, he appeared on the Forbes Billionaires List for the first time with an estimated wealth of $2 billion.

In 2016 and 2017 respectively, Musk set up the Boring Company, a tunnel-digging company, and Neuralink, a neurotech company.

It wasn’t until 2020 that Musk’s wealth began to really ramp up as Tesla prices increased rapidly. By early 2021, he was worth $170 billion, compared with under $30 billion at the start of 2020. At the end of 2021, Musk’s worth was estimated at $340 billion.

In 2022, Musk infamously purchased Twitter and changed the name to X. He stepped down as CEO in 2023.

On one day in December 2024, Musk’s wealth rose by around $50 billion due to an insider share sale at SpaceX. He became the first billionaire to make $400 billion.

Then this month, after Musk revealed SpaceX was planning an initial public offering and the company was valued at $800 billion.

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