Elon Musk has made the momentous event of being the first person to ever have a net worth of over $749 billion, which is a milestone that no other individual has ever reached. The enormous rise of his fortune was due to the Delaware Supreme Court giving its best decision ever by bringing back a huge stock based payment for Musk’s work at Tesla, a legal war that had robbed him of the payout. Musk’s estmated net worth was about $749 billion after the stock options were reinstated with a valuation of approximately $139 billion, as per Forbes billionaire index. He is now comfortably positioned at the top, almost $500 billion ahead of the second richest person in the world.
How Elon Musk Did It?
Most of Musk’s wealth derives from his investments in Tesla and SpaceX, which are his two most public companies. The company Tesla changed the electric vehicle market drastically and saw its stock price go up tremendously over time, while SpaceX has become the top private aerospace firm in the world in terms of valuation. Musk’s ventures also include xAI, Neuralink and the social platform X, which means that he operates in sectors such as cars and rockets as well as AI. According to the data from Forbes and Bloomberg, Musk’s net worth was already over $600 billion in December 2025, and it now is almost three quarters of a trillion dollars.
What Is The Delaware Case?
The latest court ruling was all about Musk’s 2018 Tesla compensation package which was approved by the shareholders initially but later on, a lower court annulled it. The Delaware Supreme Court, however, reversed that decision and referred to the prior cancellation as ‘improper and inequitable’, thus restoring Musk’s right to the stock based pay plan. This specific legal triumph was the sole reason behind the significant increase in his wealth and pointed out the intersection of corporate governance, legal strategy, and stock performance that determines the fates of ultra rich individuals.
Journey To Becoming The World’s First Trillionaire
Musk’s journey to becoming the world’s first trillionaire, even though he has surpassed the $700 billion mark, is still not certain, however, more and more financial experts are of the opinion that it is becoming less and less improbable. One significant factor contributing to this could be the SpaceX IPO. If SpaceX went public with over $1 trillion valuation, Musk’s 40% stake could add hundreds of billions more to his wealth, and he might then be very close to or even past the trillion dollar mark. The Economic Times claims that the SpaceX IPO at a $1.5 trillion valuation could push Musk’s total net worth to about $952 billion, which would be a very short distance from the historic milestone.
Outside of SpaceX, Musk also profits besides Tesla’s long range growth potential and the groundbreaking $1 trillion performance based compensation plan that was just recently approved by shareholders and is subject to ambitious targets in EV superiority, AI, robotics, and autonomous technologies. If Tesla is able to reach those targets in the next ten years, Musk could claim more payouts that would increase his fortune enormously. Even though the idea of a trillionaire has always seemed implausible, Musk’s mix of business acumen, court victories, and market traction has turned it into a real possibility, one that can be achieved in a few years if the current trends continue.
