Income

Elon Musk's Net Worth Up $100 Billion This Year

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: December 1, 2024 9:09 am

Elon Musk is not only the richest man on the Bloomberg Billionaire list, but his net worth has risen the most. At $334 billion, it is up $105 billion since January 1. Larry Ellison is next in line. His net worth has risen by $75 billion to $197 billion.

Musk owns about 15% of Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares. The company is worth $1.1 trillion, so Musk’s stake is half his net worth.

Space rocket and exploration company SpaceX is worth $255 billion based on its last rebound of funding. Musk owns about 50% of SpaceX, and its shareholders structure gives him a 75% controlling interest. Musk’s SpaceX stock is worth over $130 billion.

Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla investments together are worth almost $300 billion.

The last significant portion of Musk’s net worth is artificial intelligence (AI) industry leader xAI, recently valued at $50 billion. He is rumored to own at least a third of the startup.

What drives Musk’s net worth higher? Some investors believe Tesla should be valued as an AI company because it aims to produce the world’s first viable self-driving car. Recently, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said Tesla was the industry’s leader in providing self-driving cars that will evolve into those with autonomous driving capacity. He said Tesla was “far ahead” of its rivals. Self-driving cars have the potential for sales in the millions of units each year if they relieve the driver’s need to drive.

SpaceX dominates the rocket and satellite launch business. It may be the only company that can economically transport humans and cargo into space.

Finally, AI companies are among the most difficult privately held tech companies to value. AI is considered the most critical advance in technology in decades. However, the business has become highly competitive, and the market share leaders will end up with nosebleed valuations. It is too early to say whether xAI will be one of these.