Elon Musk has been the first to pass $300 billion in net worth, reached on November 9, 2024, when Tesla’s stock began its unbelievable spike. Much of Musk’s wealth spike is attributed to the 30% jump of Tesla’s share price after Donald Trump’s recent victory in the U.S. presidential election. Investors seem to grow more confident in his projects, he having turned one of the most visible and vocal Trump supporters, attending campaign rallies, is rumored to have possible roles in the administration-mostly fueling optimism for Tesla’s future.
Tesla’s stock surged after Trump’s victory when its shares jumped 8.19% to $321.22 in one day.
The surge pushed Musk’s net worth from $250 billion pre-election to $304 billion, reflecting both impacts of political change on the market and investor confidence in Musk’s leadership. In just five days after Trump’s win, Musk’s wealth jumped. How fast that happened underlines how his support for Trump and active vocal support for a business-friendly government seem to align well with investor optimism. This monumental growth wasn’t limited to Musk’s association with Tesla. A recent record-breaking order for Hertz, purchasing 100,000 Tesla vehicles, saw Tesla’s market cap surge beyond $1 trillion and Musk’s wealth add up in one of the largest daily jumps in financial history.
His 13% stake in Tesla has also kept him way ahead of other richest people in the world, with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison a second at $230.7 billion, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos further back at $224.5 billion.
Musk’s support of Trump goes far beyond words. The billionaire executive has been visible at campaign rallies and was part of Trump’s recent call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which Musk positioned himself as respected and influential in political circles. There is even further speculation that Musk will be given a role in government, overseeing federal regulations of the autonomous vehicle industry. Musk’s possible future role in government highlights various ways in which regulatory means can be created and molded, automatically providing leeway to Tesla within the deadly and presciently fast-moving autonomous vehicle industry.
This has polarized this political alignment: some analysts look at Musk’s influence as a good omen for the innovative climate of the U.S. and its future propelled forward with technology brought about by this pro-business administration; yet others are opposed to the fact that Musk’s foray into politics, particularly with Trump, polarized public perception regarding his companies. Be that as it may, the magnitude of his net worth attracted interest from global media, showing how he can straddle the two worlds of business and politics.
Nobody has ever had that much net worth in the history of human civilization, and by a long shot: it puts Ellison and Bezos; Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg comes in at $203.8 billion, while luxury goods titan Bernard Arnault has $165.5 billion. Musk’s lead in that regard has spurred the discussion of his potential to become the world’s first trillionaire for as long as Tesla and SpaceX continue on their rapid growth trajectories.
His perception towards money could be initiated not only in Tesla but also in SpaceX, standing tall at $100 billion valuation, which reinforces the lead of Musk in the technological and space explorations. The focused attention given to interplanetary missions by SpaceX has dramatized the popularity of Musk and the confidence of investors in him, placing his influence on technology markets in a class of its own. Given Tesla’s financial milestones, political support, and Musk’s growing influence, many analysts believe Musk’s net worth will just continue to rise. If Musk were appointed to a position regarding autonomous vehicle policy, he could try to move regulations along that favor Tesla and set it up for further gains in stock price and market positioning.
