American businessman Elon Musk, known as the founder or key owner of Tesla and SpaceX, became the first person in history whose net worth reached $500.1 billion. This figure was recorded in real time on October 1 on Forbes.
What caused the breakthrough
- A significant role in the growth was played by a sharp increase in the value of Tesla shares, which rose by ~14% over the year.
- On Wednesday, Tesla shares added 3.3%, bringing Musk more than $6 billion in wealth.
- In addition to Tesla, the growth was influenced by the valuations of Musk’s private companies — SpaceX, as well as investments in artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Disputes over valuations
Some other indices, such as Bloomberg, estimate Musk’s wealth to be lower — due to different methodologies for valuing private companies, debits, or discounts.