What Is Elon Musk's Net Worth?

Most estimates put Musk's net worth somewhere around $230 billion, but it is difficult, if not impossible, to know this number for sure. Some sources suggest that Musk's wealth is higher, with Forbes finding about $236 billion at time of writing. Others get a lower number, with the Washington Post estimating around $203 billion and Fortune suggesting even less. Currently, Elon is the richest man in the world, with Jeff Bezos in second, trailing by approximately $50 billion.

Net worth is almost impossible to precisely measure for wealthy individuals. This is due to several factors. For extremely wealthy individuals like billionaires, much of their net worth relies on self-reporting. They hold valuable assets in many forms and jurisdictions, often which are not subject to public markets or reporting.

This cohort also tends to keep much (if not most) of their wealth in market-based assets rather than cash or cash-equivalents. This means that a billionaire's net worth fluctuates based on market value at any given time. For Elon Musk, much of his net worth is tied up in his companies Tesla , SpaceX, X and more. Except for Tesla, which is a publicly traded company, these holdings are private assets, which makes it even more difficult to set a precise value.

In that context, here's what is generally known about Elon Musk's net worth.

For help managing your assets, consider speaking with a financial advisor .

Sources of Musk's Wealth

Elon Musk is an entrepreneur who operates primarily in the technology, manufacturing and aerospace fields. He is one of the world's richest people, with estimates typically putting him as either the wealthiest or second-wealthiest individual on Earth. Like most very wealthy people, Musk's net worth fluctuates based on the market value of his assets at any given time. In general his largest sources of wealth are:

PayPal

While not a significant portion of his current wealth, Elon Musk's fortune arguably began in 2002. This was when eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion. As a co-founder, Musk's share of this sale was around $175 million. He used this money to fund several of his other ventures, which led to his current billions.

Tesla Stock and Options

Tesla makes up the majority of Musk's net worth. He owns approximately 13% of the electric car company, and with stock options it totals about 20% of the company, according to a Form 13-G filed with the SEC in February, 2024. Together, Musk's stock ownership and options in Tesla account for around 715 million shares, or approximately $150 billion worth of assets.

Tesla also accounts for Musk's meteoric wealth increase in recent years. Although he has been worth billions for many years, Elon Musk's wealth increased by an order of magnitude between 2020 and 2022. In this period, his estimated fortune grew from around $24 billion to around $220 billion. This was largely due to a surge in the price of Tesla stock, which leapt from around $14 per share to a high of $414 per share in that same time period.

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SpaceX

Musk's second largest source of wealth is his stake in SpaceX. He founded this firm in 2002 with his money from the PayPal sale.

Today, Musk owns approximately 42% of SpaceX according to the Washington Post. This company is not publicly traded, but Musk's share of the company is estimated at around $71 billion. Musk also reportedly lives in a small home near the SpaceX campus in Texas, his state of residence.

xAI

Perhaps the least-known of Elon Musk's companies, xAI is an artificial intelligence company best known for its product Grok. He announced the company in 2023, and Grok was released in 2024. This company's value is currently estimated at around $24 billion.

It's unclear exactly how much xAi contributes to Musk's fortune, as its ownership structure is somewhat ambiguous. It is likely that the AI firm contributes around $12 billion to Musk's fortune.

X

X, too, has an unclear valuation.

At time of writing, Musk owns around 75% of X (formerly known as Twitter). The value of this stake is uncertain. Current estimates suggest that Musk's shares in the private company are worth somewhere between $7 billion and $13 billion, significantly less than the $44 billion he paid for it. However, these numbers are unclear for two main reasons. First, some sources say the value of X has dropped by an estimated 70% since Musk took over. Second, the deal to acquire Twitter involved the company taking on significant debt. It's unclear exactly how much that liability offsets X's overall value, or the after-debt value of Musk's stake.

The Boring Company

The Boring Company is an infrastructure company that proposes to solve traffic jams by relocating highways underground. Musk founded the company in 2016 and his stake in the firm is currently worth an estimated $3 billion.

Areas of Uncertainty

As with all high-net worth individuals, there is significant uncertainty regarding Musk's precise wealth. There are several reasons for this, but the biggest two are private assets and self-reporting.

First, private assets are notoriously difficult to value.

Very wealthy individuals tend to hold little of their wealth in cash or cash-equivalents . Instead, they generally hold most of their wealth in the form of securities and ownership stakes. Indeed, it's common for someone like Musk to operate mostly with these assets, using shares of stock or secured loans to make large purchases rather than personal cash holdings. Many executives will even take their pay entirely in stock and options, forgoing a traditional salary. For example, Musk's most recent Tesla pay package was entirely based on stock options rather than cash.

This introduces the uncertainty common to any market assets. With publicly traded assets, like Tesla stock, this wealth becomes relatively concrete, if fast-moving. Analysts can estimate Musk's wealth based on Tesla's current share price, even if that can change quickly.

With privately held assets, which account for most of Musk's holdings, this becomes much more difficult. Private companies do not have public reporting requirements, nor do they have significant trading volume. Instead, the valuation of private assets is generally based on the most recent known investment or share purchase. This can give a ballpark figure of a company's value based on the latest dollar-per-share investment, but is far from a precise assessment of what those shares would sell for at any given time.

This also raises the issue of self-reporting.

With private assets, most of the information about value comes from voluntary disclosures and estimates made by the parties involved. Here, for example, most of what the market knows about the value of firms like SpaceX or the Boring Company comes from voluntary statements made by those companies or Musk himself. In those cases, information is limited by the parties' knowledge, judgment and self-interest. At any given time, for example, an executive might be incentivized to make a company seem more valuable (to draw investors) or less valuable (to reduce tax footprint). This will skew the data available for outside analysis.

This self-reporting also makes it difficult to know for sure exactly who owns what portion of any given company. Again, with no public reporting requirement, there is no legally confirmable data on exactly what percentage Musk owns of any of his private companies. Again, this makes assessing his wealth a best-estimate.

All of that said, at time of writing, the market agreed: the South African entrepreneur is worth somewhere around $230 billion, approximately the GDP of Greece .

For help building a plan to effectively manage your net worth, consider speaking with a financial advisor .

The Bottom Line

Elon Musk is likely worth around $230 billion. Most of his wealth comes from his stake in Tesla, along with his ownership of firms like SpaceX and the Boring Company.

Wealth Management Tips

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Photo credit: Grok, ©iStock.com/Wirestock, ©iStock.com/Nattakorn Maneerat

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