Musk’s fortune soared by a record $170 billion in 2024–putting him an all-time high dollar amount ahead of Jeff Bezos, the world’s second richest person.



The soaring valuations of Tesla, SpaceX and xAI boosted Elon Musk’s fortune to an estimated $421.2 billion as of December 31, 2024, up from $251 billion at the start of 2024. He’s the first person to ever be worth&nbsp;more than $300 billion (a milestone he briefly achieved in 2021), let alone $400 billion.



As a result, Musk ended the year a record $188 billion richer than the world’s next wealthiest person, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who was worth an estimated $233.5 billion when the ball dropped in New York City’s Times Square earlier this week. A representative for Musk has not replied to a request for comment from Forbes.



The record for the largest year-end lead between No. 1 and No. 2 richest more than doubled in 2024. Back in 2021—the previous record—Musk was worth $72 billion more than then-No. 2 Bernard Arnault.



Musk actually lost the title of world’s richest person to Arnault in January 2024, when a Delaware judge voided his 2018 deal to receive options equaling a 9% stake in Tesla—then worth about $56 billion. (Forbes&nbsp;discounted the options by 50% pending Musk’s appeal.)&nbsp;But Musk regained the crown in May, when his new artificial intelligence startup xAI raised $6 billion at a $24 billion valuation, helping boost his fortune to $209.5 billion at the time. Since then he’s never looked back.



In December, xAI raised another $6 billion at a reported $50 billion valuation, giving Musk an estimated 54% stake worth $27 billion. That same month, SpaceX was valued at $350 billion in a private share sale, up from $180 billion a year earlier, boosting the value of Musk’s estimated 42% stake to $147 billion.



Tesla shares also hit an all-time high on December 17 and ended the year up 93%, with almost all of that gain coming after Musk helped re-elect Donald Trump as president on November 5 and was named co-head of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) a week later. That boosted the value of Musk’s 12% stake in Tesla to $166 billion.



And that’s excluding Musk’s Tesla options that were voided by the Delaware judge in January 2024. Though Tesla shareholders voted to reapprove the options in June, in early December the Delaware judge reaffirmed her decision to void the award. For now,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;is continuing to discount the options by 50% pending Musk’s appeal, giving them a discounted valuation of nearly $57.8 billion.



Musk, who became the first person ever worth $400 billion or more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2024/12/11/elon-musk-now-worth-more-than-400-billion-worlds-richest-person/">in December</a>, saw his fortune soar by a record $170 billion during 2024–or by roughly one Bernard Arnault, who ended the year as the world’s fifth richest person, worth an estimated $168.4 billion.



Tesla shares have fallen about 6% as of 3 pm E.T. on Thursday, January 2 following news from the company <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/02/tesla-q4-vehicle-deliveries-fall-short-of-estimates-annual-deliveries-fell-1-in-2024/">earlier in the day</a> that vehicle deliveries in 2024 fell compared to 2023, and that fourth-quarter deliveries missed analysts’ expectations. That wiped out nearly $15 billion from Musk’s fortune. But he’s still the number one richest, worth an estimated nearly $406 billion. And the gap between Musk and No. 2 Bezos is still yawning at nearly $172 billion.

Tag: World's Next Richest

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The Unprecedented Gap Between Elon Musk And The World’s Next Richest