No matter what you think of Elon Musk, there's no arguing with his bank balance.
While it was once close at the top of who's the world's richest man (at least in monetary terms), Musk's current worth of $348 billion puts him clear of Jeff Bezos' $219 billion and sees him sit comfortably as the wealthiest person in history - that we can measure in modern terms.
More than this, Musk's soaring wealth sees him on track to become the world's first trillionaire.
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Elon Musk's bank balance has had its ups and downs over the years, and back in November 2021, he first passed the landmark $300 billion mark.
That was soon followed by a fall from grace, with a tumble in Tesla stocks wiping a reported $200 billion off his net worth in December 2022.
It was so substantial, the Tesla CEO entered the Guinness Book of World Records for having the 'largest loss of personal fortune in history.'
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Money is a fickle mistress that can easily be taken away, but if Musk continues his current trajectory, he could be the world's first trillionaire by 2027.
Informa Connect Academy says Musk is the closest of the world's billionaires to that elusive 13-figure mark as his wealth keeps climbing. At the start of 2020, Musk was worth just $28.5 billion, but a pandemic boom in Tesla saw a few noughts added on the end.
James Pethokoukis, economic policy analyst for the American Enterprise Institute, explains why the rich keep getting richer: "If you look at the list of the richest Americans, whether we’re talking about Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, the reason people get super rich is they start a company and they grow that company. And the reason that company keeps growing and growing is [it’s] producing something valuable that people want."
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As pointed out by CNBC, the wealthiest 1% of Americans held 50% of all stocks in the USA in mid-2024, while the bottom 50% only held around 1% of all stocks.
Whether it's a level playing field is another debate, as John Sabelhaus, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, says loopholes are making the richest even richer: "Over the past quarter century in particular, changes in tax policy have made it much more difficult to tax the rich. There are many more exclusions, many more ways to get around paying taxes."
If Musk wasn't already happily counting his coins, he's faced a post-election boost. Donald Trump's road to the White House has seen Musk add over $80 billion to his net worth, thanks mainly to stocks in tech companies like SpaceX and Tesla going up. This is more than making up for X worth being pummelled.
Musk isn't the only trillionaire waiting in the wings. Indian business conglomerate founder Gautam Adani is apparently second in the race to become a billionaire, while Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang and Indonesian energy and mining mogul Prajogo Pangestu are also set to become trillionaires by 2028 if their current trajectories continue.