Another Wealth Record: Musk's Fortune Exceeds $850 Billion

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has become the first person in history whose fortune has exceeded $850 billion.

This result was facilitated by a deal to merge space company SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI. The combined company is valued at $1.25 trillion. Before this deal, Musk owned approximately 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 this was worth approximately $336 billion. xAI conducted a funding round in January at a valuation of $230 billion, and Forbes valued Musk's stake in the startup at $122 billion, writes Forbes.

After the merger, SpaceX's valuation rose to $1 trillion, xAI - to $250 million. 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, as well as a package of Tesla stock options worth another $124 billion. This amount does not include a record compensation package that could bring Musk additional shares worth up to $1 trillion before taxes if Tesla achieves certain performance metrics - for example, increasing its capitalization more than eightfold over ten years.

Over the past four months, Musk has already broken fortune size records four times. In October, he became the world's first person with a fortune of $500 billion after a sharp rise in Tesla shares following his departure from the U.S. government's Department of Efficiency (DOGE). In December, Musk's fortune exceeded $600 billion amid SpaceX's growing valuation. Just days after that, it grew to $700 billion when the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Musk's Tesla stock options, which had been annulled by a lower court in 2024.

Musk is now richer than the second person in the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires ranking - Google co-founder Larry Page - by approximately $575 billion. Page's fortune as of February 4, 2026 is estimated at almost $278 billion: Musk has approximately half of that amount left to become the world's first trillionaire, notes Forbes.