- Elon Musk’s stint as the world’s first trillionaire has come to an end.
- Tesla and SpaceX chief executive’s net worth has fallen to $957 billion after a sharp decline in the shares of both companies.
- However, he still remains the world’s richest individual by a wide margin
Elon Musk's stint as the world's first trillionaire has come to an end. It lasted a fortnight. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive's net worth has fallen to $957 billion after a sharp decline in the shares of both companies. The slide wiped out more than $360 billion from his fortune in just over a week.
Musk, who co-founded seven companies, including electric carmaker Tesla, rocket maker SpaceX and artificial intelligence venture xAI, crossed the $1 trillion wealth threshold for the first time on June 12 following SpaceX's blockbuster Nasdaq debut.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the formal name of SpaceX, priced its initial public offering at $135 per share and opened at $150, raising $75 billion in what became the largest IPO in history. The offering valued the rocket and satellite company at nearly $1.77 trillion.
Shares pushed the stock even higher during its first trading session, lifting SpaceX's market value to almost $2 trillion by the close. The surge significantly boosted Musk's wealth, given his roughly 38% stake in the company, including stock options.
The rally continued in the following days. By June 16, SpaceX shares had climbed to $225.64, helping Musk's net worth reach a record $1.32 trillion and making him the first person ever to surpass that milestone.
However, the gains were short-lived.
SpaceX shares have since retreated sharply, recently trading near $156, about 31% below their peak. The decline has erased an estimated $363 billion from Musk's fortune, pushing his net worth back below the trillion-dollar mark.
Nasdaq Debut To A 16% crash
Much of the damage came in a single session. On Monday, SpaceX shares fell more than 16 per cent, marking the second-largest one-day loss of market value on record for any company.
The slide wiped close to $400 billion off SpaceX's valuation and cut Elon Musk's net worth by about $240 billion, taking it down to roughly $1.08 trillion before the declines continued.
Tesla has not been spared either. Its shares are down 4.14 per cent since June 16 and more than 7 per cent for the year, adding to the pressure on Musk's balance sheet.
The decline in SpaceX shares came amid broader weakness in technology and AI-related stocks. The Nasdaq fell 1.3 per cent on Monday, weighed down by declines in major technology stocks including Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon.
Investor sentiment also remained under pressure in Asia, where South Korea's Kospi index briefly halted trading after a sharp sell-off in AI chipmakers, while Japan's Nikkei dropped 3.6%.
Who Is The World's Richest Person Now?
Despite the setback, Musk remains the world's richest individual by a wide margin. His $957 billion fortune leaves him hundreds of billions of dollars ahead of his nearest rival, Larry Page.
Google co-founder Larry Page holds the second richest individual on Earth spot with a net worth of $297 billion. He is followed by his Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose net worth is around $276 Billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.
