When it comes to the richest people on Earth, it’s hard to put into context just how rich they are.
Up there with the Zuckerbergs, Bezoses, and Ellisons of the world, Elon Musk is far and away the richest man on the planet.
The tech entrepreneur might have made a dud investment in Twitter/X, but his other ventures continue to soar.
Despite fluctuating wealth, Elon Musk is well on the way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire thanks to a particularly healthy 2024.
Mr. Musk has just crossed another milestone, being the first person ever to boast a net worth of $400 billion.
Musk is the first person to boast a $400 billion net worth (ANGELA WEISS / Contributor / Getty)
According to a December 11 article from Bloomberg, Musk has hit the elusive $400 billion mark.
His $20 billion jump that put him over the line can be attributed to SpaceX investors agreeing to purchase $1.25 billion of insider shares.
With the spacefaring company now valued at $350 billion, it’s the extra boost that Musk needed.
Musk has been on an upward trajectory after Donald Trump’s American election win.
Although the world’s richest saw a massive boost to their net worths, Musk has been enjoying the biggest.
It’s no coincidence that he finds himself part of Trump’s inner circle and co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As well as this, Musk’s interests in Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, the Boring Company, and more have seen him placed perfectly for this tech boom.
Similar to Musk’s new milestone, Tesla shares have hit their own record high. Having soared by around 71% in 2024, shares in the car manufacturer climbed to $424.77 on December 11. This is a healthy increase from the pandemic peak of $409.97 on November 4, 2021.
Musk’s net worth has soared in the aftermath of the U.S. election (Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty)
With Musk already having $400 billion, there are questions about how much longer it’ll be until he smashes past $500 billion.
To put it into context of how rich Musk is, he could give everyone on Earth $48 billion and he’d still have $6.4 billion in the bank for himself.
That would obviously never happen, but even if he gave everyone estimated to be on the planet right now $1 billion, he’d still have $391.8 billion.
Assuming he stays on track to becoming a trillionaire in 2027, Musk could use $1 trillion to give half of the USA health insurance for a whole year, end homelessness in the country, or simply buy 12 million Cybertrucks.
Although the numbers are constantly going up and down, Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index actually lists Musk’s current net worth at $447 billion. As Jeff Bezos is currently in second place with $249 billion, it looks like Musk is sitting pretty comfortably on his mountains of money.
Featured Image Credit: Marco Ravagli / Contributor / STEFANI REYNOLDS / Contributor / Getty
Elon Musk is on course to become the first person to reach a net worth a trillion dollars.
He is already reportedly the richest person on Earth as the tech mogul heads up the likes of Tesla and SpaceX.
It is estimated that Musk will make history as the first ever trillionaire by 2027 and, while he currently has his sights set on forming a human colony on Mars, what other things could Musk buy with his vast wealth?
Elon Musk is set to become the first trillionaire in the world (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
As a trillionaire, he certainly wouldn’t need to do his shopping in the sale sections.
So here are some things that the entrepreneur could afford.
Over 12 million Cybertrucks
The price of the 2025 Tesla Cybertruck starts at $82,235 so if he wanted to, Musk could afford to purchase 12,160,272 of the electric vehicles.
Wipe student debt
As of June 2024, the total amount that people owe in student debt in the US has reached up to $1.6 trillion.
And okay, Musk might be a little bit shy of that number but as a trillionaire, he’d be able to make a huge dent in the cost owed, almost wiping out the debt owed by students across the country.
Health insurance for half of the country
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average annual cost of health insurance in the US is $7,739 for an individual and $22,221 for a family as of 2021.
The population of the country in that year was around 332 million, meaning that with his trillion dollars, Musk could technically fund the cost of half of the population to receive health insurance for a year.
Elon Musk is the richest person in the world (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)
Put a stop to world hunger
World hunger is something that Musk could make a significant contribution to ending if he spent his trillion on the cause.
On the Oxfam America website, it reads: “Current estimates suggest that as of this year, we need donor governments to invest around $37 billion every year until 2030 to tackle both extreme and chronic hunger.
“Let’s start with extreme hunger. We need about $23 billion just this year to meet the needs of people facing starvation and acute malnutrition.”
End Homelessness in the US
In a report by Scioto Analysis, it was estimated that in order to completely eradicate homelessness in America, it would take a budget of somewhere between $11 billion to $30 billion a year.
With a wealth of a trillion dollars, this means that Musk would have the ability to house every person in the country for up to 90 years.
