Elon Musk’s Rockets, not cars, may be on the way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire, as SpaceX now accounts for about two-thirds. Tesla The wealth of the CEO.
Musk became the first person to hit $800 billion this week, and his net worth is now around $845 billion. Forbes. He is worth more than the next three richest people – Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg – integrated.
The tech mogul’s unprecedented wealth has grown since his aerospace and defense company SpaceX. was purchased his artificial intelligence and social media company xAI struck a deal this week that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion, according to financial documents reviewed by CNBC.
With Musk’s stake in the joint venture at about 43%, his stake is worth more than $530 billion, representing a rapid turnaround in his earnings.
Musk’s priorities may be more focused on SpaceX than Tesla, a fact the EV company acknowledged in its latest statement. send a proxyin which he noted that “much of Mr. Musk’s wealth is now derived from other business ventures.”
Musk confirmed last year he wants to take SpaceX public in 2026, making Tesla a smaller component of his liquid wealth. But it still needs buy-in from public market investors, who may be reluctant to pay for the company, which combines a defense contractor and satellite business with an AI model maker trying to acquire Google, OpenAI and Anthropic.
SpaceX got more than that $20 billion According to FedScout research, more lucrative contracts are on the way than contracts with the federal government, and Musk viewed the purchase as the next step toward “orbital data centers.”
“You’ve spoiled your history a little bit as a net shareholder in SpaceX, but the opportunity is much broader,” said Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, which deals with pre-IPO transactions. “It makes sense for them to have access to a much larger capital market, especially with xAI, which is not satisfied with capital.”
XAI is currently under investigation by authorities in Europe, Asia, Australia and other countries Californiafollowing the company’s Grok image generator, allows users to create and share “deep fake” clear images of children and women.
It’s unclear whether Musk’s addition will require any regulatory review. Democratic senators this week called Pentagon to investigate SpaceX over undisclosed Chinese investors in the company.
Musk still has a big incentive to focus on Tesla. Late last year, shareholders voted to approve a new $1 trillion payout package that would be paid out in 12 tranches if Tesla hits certain milestones. stagesincluding market price growth and operational excellence over the next decade. The first tranche of shares will be paid if Tesla reaches $2 trillion, which is about $460 billion more than the current price.
Tesla said in a proxy document detailing the plan that the structure aims to “prevent it from giving priority to other businesses.”
However, Columbia Law professor Dorothy Lund, an expert on corporate and securities law, told CNBC in an email that the strategy may not work.
Musk is now “negotiating comp packages at every company, with every board trying to get him to focus on comp,” Lund wrote. “If SpaceX/xAI gives it more money and a bigger stake, this Tesla package might look attractive.”
Prior to the xAI acquisition, Musk owned about 42% of SpaceX and controlled 80% of the votes, according to FCC filings. His current ownership stake in Tesla ranges from 11% to 15% of outstanding shares, depending on what is included in his stake, according to public filings.
With Tesla brand value and major auto sales declineand its long-promised robotaxis and humanoid robots still in development, the company’s share price has fallen about 9% this year.
Based on Musk’s ownership of SpaceX and Tesla’s stock holdings even, the rocket and AI company would need to reach roughly $1.6 trillion to become the world’s richest man as a trillionaire.
Ross Gerber, CEO of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki, is convinced that Musk never wants to take SpaceX private. Instead, he’s waiting for SpaceX and Tesla to merge, and that’s it predicted this week it would be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol X, formerly owned by US Steel.
Gerber is a long-time Tesla investor and now owns shares in SpaceX after his firm backed Musk’s leveraged buyout of Twitter in 2022. Musk renamed Twitter X and merged the social network with xAI last year.
Merging his empire makes sense, Gerber says, because it allows Musk to fulfill his dream of running one big company under Brand X. Of the alphabet announcement this week that it will spend up to $185 billion capital This year, Gerber Musk said that he could bring in a large amount of money.
“This giant entity makes it easier for them to raise money and borrow money,” he said. “How else should Musk compete and become an AI player?”
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
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