(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk has become the first person to reach a net worth of $400 billion, the latest milestone for the world’s richest person.

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The latest trigger was an insider stock sale in his privately held SpaceX, which boosted Musk’s net worth by about $50 billion to $439.2 billion in one fell swoop, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Musk’s fortune has seen a dramatic turnaround since the end of 2022, when his net worth shrank by more than $200 billion at one point. But things have particularly escalated recently following Donald Trump’s election victory last month, with Musk his most prominent political donor and advocate.

Tesla Inc. shares have risen about 65% since before the election, buoyed by expectations that Trump will streamline the rollout of self-driving cars and eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles that help Tesla’s competitors. Musk is expected to play a key role in the new administration as co-head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, giving him a bully pulpit in Washington and a direct line to the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has more than doubled in value to $50 billion since its last fundraising in May. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump’s victory helped spark new interest.

On Wednesday, SpaceX and its investors agreed to buy $1.25 billion worth of shares from employees and other company insiders. The deal, which values ​​the private space exploration company at around $350 billion, makes SpaceX the most valuable private startup in the world.

The company makes most of its money from contracts with the U.S. government and can likely count on more support under a Trump administration. The president-elect praised Musk’s vision of sending astronauts to Mars in campaign speeches and accompanied Musk at a SpaceX launch in Texas shortly after the election.

Jared Isaacman, Trump’s pick for NASA chief, is a billionaire technology executive who made the first commercial spacewalk on a chartered SpaceX launch in September. He praised the company last month as “the most innovative and literally impressive organization I’ve ever seen” after investing $27.5 million in SpaceX in 2021 through his payments company.

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