Elon Musk becomes the world’s first “half-trillionaire”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become the first person in history whose net worth has passed USD 500 billion (£370.9 billion), as the value of his electric car company and other businesses has risen this year.

According to the Forbes billionaires index, Musk’s wealth briefly hit USD 500.1 billion on Wednesday afternoon (New York time), before slipping to just above USD 499 billion. Alongside Tesla, the value of his other companies, including AI start-up xAI and space company SpaceX, has also risen in recent months. The milestone further cements Musk’s position as the world’s richest person, well ahead of his rivals in the global tech sector.

According to Forbes, Oracle founder Larry Ellison is the world’s second-richest person with about USD 350.7 billion. He briefly overtook Musk last month when Oracle shares jumped more than 40% on the company’s positive outlook in cloud infrastructure and AI-related contracts. Most of Musk’s vast fortune is tied to his stake of more than 12% in Tesla, whose shares have risen sharply this year. Tesla shares closed up more than 3.3% in New York on Wednesday and are up more than 20% since the start of the year.