EIon Musk, the world’s richest person, is now the first person with a net worth of over $400 billion. According to information on Wednesday (as of Wednesday, 2 p.m.), his fortune – the largest of which are Tesla, SpaceX and xAI – is estimated at $428 billion Forbes Estimates. This makes Musk worth more than any billionaire Forbes has ever tracked a list of the world’s billionaires in the nearly four decades of publishing.

Musk’s net worth rose by $58 billion on Wednesday afterward Forbes confirmed that SpaceX and its investors had agreed to buy back insider shares in a deal that valued the rocket company at $350 billion and was first reported by Bloomberg. At that valuation, Musk’s estimated 42% stake is worth $147 billion – more than 60% more than SpaceX’s last takeover bid, which valued the company at $210 billion earlier this year. The new valuation makes SpaceX the most valuable private company in the world, more than TikTok parent ByteDance, ChatGPT creator OpenAI and payments giant Stripe.

“The really crazy thing is that almost no investor wanted to sell shares, even at a $350 billion valuation!” “SpaceX has reduced the amount of shares it bought back from employees to allow some new investors to get in,” wrote Musk on Wednesday on X – in which he owns an estimated 75% of the shares.

It’s another milestone in a golden year for Musk, whose net worth has increased by more than $150 billion since January 1, 2024. That’s thanks in part to SpaceX’s skyrocketing valuation, but also to his 13 percent stake in Tesla (excluding options), which accounts for the bulk of his net worth (his stake is now nearly $170 billion excluding options) and his estimated 54% stake in artificial intelligence startup xAI, which private investors have reportedly valued at $50 The electric vehicle maker’s shares are up more than 70% since the Nov. 5 presidential election increased. CEO Musk has forged an increasingly close relationship with President-elect Trump, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars and countless hours into his campaign and Cabinet nomination process. He is also expected to take on a role in the new government as co-head of a planned Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will discuss ways to cut federal government spending. It could potentially play a role in regulations affecting Musk’s companies.

It wasn’t all good news for Musk. In early 2024, a Delaware judge voided his 2018 deal for options worth an additional 9% of Tesla – then worth about $56 billion. The same judge reaffirmed that decision last week, even though Tesla shareholders voted in June to reauthorize Musk’s option payment package. Forbes has discounted the options by 50% pending Musk’s appeal, giving them a discounted valuation of nearly $60 billion.

After rising to become the world’s richest person in recent years, Musk is now worth about $180 billion more than the world’s second richest person, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, whose fortune has plummeted this year, previously held the title of the world’s richest person, overtaking Musk in January this year as Tesla shares weakened. At the end of May, helped by a rebound in Tesla shares, Musk once again became the richest person in the world and has retained that title ever since.

Thanks to the rising values ​​of SpaceX, Tesla and xAI, Musk could remain the richest person in the world for the foreseeable future, given the huge gap between Musk and Bezos. If his fortune continues to grow as quickly as it did in 2024, which is of course unlikely, he could be a trillionaire by the end of the decade.