Elon Musk’s journey to becoming the world’s first trillionaire is charting a new course, propelled more by rockets soaring into space than by electric vehicles rolling on roads.
Forbes recently reported that Musk made history by surpassing the $800 billion threshold, with his estimated net worth now standing at an incredible $845 billion. To put that into perspective, he’s wealthier than Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, combined.
SpaceX-xAI Deal: A Game Changer for Musk’s Empire
This extraordinary surge in wealth can be attributed to a significant restructuring within Musk’s sprawling business empire. His aerospace and defense company, SpaceX, recently completed an acquisition of his artificial intelligence and social media firm, xAI. This monumental deal valued the newly combined entity at an astounding $1.25 trillion, as revealed in financial documents seen by CNBC.
Considering Musk’s estimated 43% ownership in the merged company, his stake alone is now valued at over $530 billion. This means SpaceX impressively accounts for nearly two-thirds of his entire net worth.
Tesla’s Diminishing Dominance
The impact of this shift is already evident at Tesla. In a recent proxy filing, the electric vehicle giant acknowledged that “a majority of Mr. Musk’s wealth is now derived from other business ventures.” This statement clearly indicates that Tesla is no longer the sole, or even primary, pillar of Musk’s financial standing.
Musk has also expressed intentions to take SpaceX public in 2026, a move that would further diversify his liquid assets away from Tesla. However, potential public investors might be wary of a company that combines the diverse operations of a defense contractor and satellite provider with a capital-intensive AI developer, especially one competing against industry giants like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Government Contracts and Insatiable Capital Needs
SpaceX’s formidable growth is significantly bolstered by its government contracts. Data from FedScout reveals the company has secured over $20 billion in federal contracts, with more agreements potentially on the horizon. Musk himself has characterized the xAI acquisition as a strategic move toward establishing “orbital data centers.” Greg Martin, managing director at Rainmaker Securities, commented to CNBC, “You’ve muddied up your story a little bit as a pure-play SpaceX shareholder, but the opportunity has gotten a lot bigger. It makes sense for them to access a much larger capital market, especially with xAI, which does have insatiable need for capital.”
Navigating Regulatory and Political Challenges
Despite its ambitious growth, xAI faces considerable headwinds. The company is currently under investigation across Europe, Asia, Australia, and California, stemming from concerns that its Grok image generator facilitated the creation of explicit deepfake images of women and children. The regulatory implications for the SpaceX-xAI merger itself are yet to be determined. Furthermore, Democratic senators have reportedly pressured the Pentagon to investigate SpaceX regarding alleged undisclosed Chinese investors, adding another layer of political complexity.
Tesla’s Enduring Importance to Musk
Even with SpaceX’s soaring prominence, Tesla retains significant importance for Musk. Last year, shareholders approved an ambitious compensation package that could see him earn up to $1 trillion over the next decade, contingent on Tesla achieving aggressive market capitalization and operational milestones. The initial payout, for instance, requires Tesla to reach a $2 trillion valuation, which is approximately $460 billion higher than its current level. Tesla explicitly stated that this package was designed to “prevent him from prioritizing those other ventures.” However, Columbia Law professor Dorothy Lund pointed out to CNBC that this strategy might be insufficient given Musk’s involvement in multiple companies vying for his focus and compensation.
The Road to Trillionaire Status
Prior to the xAI acquisition, FCC filings indicated Musk owned approximately 42% of SpaceX and held 80% of its voting power. His stake in Tesla, depending on various calculations, ranges between 11% and 15%. With Tesla shares experiencing a roughly 9% decline this year due to weaker auto sales and delays in robotaxi and robotics initiatives, SpaceX and xAI have emerged as the most direct path to his trillionaire goal. Based on his current ownership, the merged SpaceX-xAI entity would need to achieve a valuation of roughly $1.6 trillion (assuming Tesla’s valuation remains constant) for him to officially join the trillionaire club.
Interestingly, some investors speculate that Musk might never take SpaceX public as a standalone entity. Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki, suggested to CNBC that Musk might eventually merge both SpaceX and Tesla under a new, unified brand, potentially named ‘X.’ Gerber posed the question, “How else is Musk supposed to compete and become a major AI player?”