Elon Musk is very close to becoming a trillionaire
Elon Musk is already the richest (individual) person in the world, but his financial story may be approaching a completely different perspective.
According to Gizmodo, Yesterday, with a single slam of a gavel, Elon Musk got almost 14 percent closer to being a trillionaire. The Delaware Supreme Court ruled Friday that Elon Musk’s 2018 CEO pay package from Tesla, which was worth about $56 billion at the time of the award, must be restored.
Musk’s net worth is currently estimated at around $748.9 billion, according to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list.
Anyway, Musk has been fighting a legal battle for years to preserve the $56 billion Tesla pay package that initially propelled him to super billionaire status. Last year, a court sided with some shareholders who believed Musk’s control of Tesla called into question the fairness of the pay package, and that package was thrown out. Well, he just won the appeal, and since the value of the package has grown over the years, he just got $139 billion richer.
Tesla shareholder Tornetta sued Tesla in 2018, filing a derivative suit accusing Musk and the company’s board of breach of fiduciary duty.
“We are proud to have participated in the historic verdict below, calling to account the Tesla board and its largest stockholder for their breaches of fiduciary duty,” lawyers representing plaintiff Richard J. Tornetta said in an e-mailed statement.
The Delaware Court of Chancery, which specializes in business litigation, ruled in January 2024 that the compensation plan was approved illegally and ordered it to be set aside.
In her ruling, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick also found that Musk “controlled Tesla” and that the process by which the board approved his 2018 compensation plan was “grossly flawed.”
Among other things, she found that Tesla’s board failed to disclose to investors all of the material information they should have before asking them to vote on and approve the plan.
Following the previous ruling in Tornetta, Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters out of Delaware, attacked McCormick in posts on his social network X (formerly Twitter), where he has tens of millions of followers, and urged other entrepreneurs to re-establish companies outside the state.
Tesla also attempted to “ratify” the 2018 CEO compensation plan by holding a second vote with shareholders in 2024. In November, Tesla shareholders voted to increase Musk’s CEO compensation plan even further.
The 2025 compensation plan includes 12 stock options that will be awarded to the CEO if Tesla hits certain milestones over the next decade, valuing the company at about $1 trillion. The new plan could also increase Musk’s voting power at the company from about 13% today to about 25%.
Shareholders also approved a plan to change Musk’s 2018 CEO pay if the Tornetta appeal is upheld. That plan has now been nullified.
Musk’s trillionaire journey
Elon Musk’s current SpaceX stake value is based on a 2024 deal. Bloomberg used a December 2024 secondary sale at a US$350 billion valuation to value his stake at US$136 billion after applying a private-company discount, as per the report by Bloomberg.
Some 2023 stock sales have reached higher numbers but were not included. Secondary sales earlier this year valued SpaceX at about $400 billion, but Bloomberg did not include that because the amount sold was unclear; Pitchbook estimated the sales were less than $50 million.
Musk faces significant challenges on the Tesla side. His Tesla compensation package is only paid if Tesla meets ambitious goals, including a market value of $8.5 trillion (up from $1.5 trillion today) and adjusted profit of $400 billion (up from less than $13 billion).
In addition to Tesla and SpaceX, Musk’s portfolio includes several high-potential private companies. He reportedly owns about a third of xAI, an artificial intelligence company affiliated with social platform X, which is valued at about $230 billion. Neuralink and The Boring Company, while smaller, are attracting billions more dollars.
With multiple companies expanding at once, Elon Musk’s path to trillionaire status no longer seems theoretical. If SpaceX goes public and Tesla continues its growth, Musk’s wealth could be equal to the annual economic output of entire nations. Whether he is admired or criticized, one thing is clear: Musk is redefining the upper limits of personal wealth in the modern era.
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