Ilon Musk
According to American Forbes, he got rich after the merger deal between SpaceX and xAI, which valued the combined company at $1.25 trillion. Before the deal, Musk owned about 42% of SpaceX and 49% of xAI.
SpaceX launched a tender offer in December at a valuation of $800 billion: Musk’s stake, based on that, was worth about $336 billion. xAI did a funding round in January at a valuation of $230 billion, and Forbes valued Musk’s stake in the startup at $122 billion.
Musk’s four records for the size of his fortune
After the merger, SpaceX’s valuation rose to $1 trillion, xAI’s to $250 million, and Forbes estimated Musk’s stake in the combined company at 43% and its value at $542 billion.
Musk also owns a 12% stake in Tesla, which is valued at $178 billion, and a package of options on Tesla shares for another $124 billion. This amount does not include a record remuneration package, which could bring Musk additional shares worth up to $1 trillion before taxes if Tesla achieves certain performance indicators (increasing capitalization more than eight times in 10 years).
In the past four months, Musk has updated records for the size of his fortune four times. In October, he became the world’s first person with a $500 billion fortune after Tesla shares surged amid his departure from the U.S. government’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In December, Musk’s fortune surpassed $600 billion amid a rise in SpaceX’s valuation. Just a few days after that, it rose to $700 billion.
Now Musk is richer than the second person in the ranking of Forbes Real-Time Billionaires – Google co-founder Larry Page – by about $575 billion. Page’s fortune as of February 4, 2026 is estimated at almost $278 billion: Musk has about half of this amount left to become the world’s first trillionaire.
