Elon Musk has lost his trillionaire status after a decline in SpaceX shares wiped nearly $60 billion from his fortune, pushing the billionaire entrepreneur’s estimated net worth below the $1 trillion mark.
The latest slide in SpaceX stock reduced Musk’s fortune by an estimated $59 billion to $994.1 billion, according to wealth estimates published on Wednesday. The decline came after shares of the rocket and satellite company fell more than 6% in afternoon trading, reversing gains made earlier in the week.
The setback marks another dramatic shift in Musk’s wealth since SpaceX’s market debut last month. The company’s shares have experienced sharp swings in recent weeks, causing significant fluctuations in the value of the world’s richest person’s holdings.
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Despite falling below the trillion-dollar threshold, Musk remains by far the wealthiest individual globally. His fortune still comfortably exceeds those of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who continue to rank among the world’s richest people.
Musk’s wealth is closely tied to the performance of his companies, particularly SpaceX and Tesla. He reportedly holds approximately 4.8 billion SpaceX shares and hundreds of millions of stock options, meaning even modest changes in the company’s valuation can have a substantial impact on his net worth.
The latest decline comes despite renewed optimism surrounding SpaceX’s long-term prospects. On Wednesday, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives initiated coverage of the company, describing it as one of the most differentiated assets in the technology sector and expressing confidence in its future growth potential.
Ives said SpaceX is well-positioned to expand beyond its traditional rocket launch business and could become a major player in connectivity services, artificial intelligence infrastructure and other emerging technologies. Wedbush reportedly assigned a $190 price target to the company’s shares.
Investor enthusiasm surrounding SpaceX helped propel Musk’s net worth to unprecedented levels following the company’s initial public offering. At one point, his fortune briefly climbed to around $1.45 trillion, making him the first person to surpass the trillion-dollar milestone.
However, the gains proved short-lived. Declining share prices have since erased hundreds of billions of dollars in paper wealth and repeatedly pushed Musk’s fortune above and below the symbolic trillion-dollar threshold.
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Last week, Musk also briefly lost his trillionaire status after revisions to calculations involving his Tesla compensation package reduced estimates of his overall wealth. Tesla recently replaced Musk’s controversial 2018 performance award package with a new compensation structure tied to his continued leadership of the electric vehicle maker through January 2028.
While Musk’s wealth declined, another technology billionaire saw his fortune rise sharply. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg added billions of dollars to his net worth after reports that the company is exploring plans to build a cloud infrastructure business focused on artificial intelligence, potentially placing it in direct competition with Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
The latest movements highlight the extraordinary volatility that can accompany fortunes built on large holdings in publicly traded technology companies. For Musk, whose wealth has repeatedly reached record levels over the past several years, the latest decline represents another reminder of how quickly valuations can shift in the modern technology sector.
Although the loss of trillionaire status is largely symbolic, it underscores the influence that market movements continue to have on the fortunes of the world’s richest individuals. Even after Wednesday’s decline, Musk remains firmly atop global wealth rankings and continues to hold a commanding lead over every other billionaire on the planet.
