(NewsNation) — Elon Musk has been at the forefront of the space and technology industries for some time.
The X owner and Tesla CEO has, in recent years, become a greater influence in popular culture as an advocate for free speech on his social media platform.
The richest man in the world endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election and now leads a new advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency. This caused stock for a cryptocurrency called dogecoin to spike, CNBC reported. Tesla stock, the outlet reported, surged by 39% after Trump’s victory last November.
Tesla stock sank this year, however. It is currently down 28.64% from this time in 2024.
Several factors have contributed to this. CNBC reported anxiety among Tesla shareholders, both because of the company’s performance and because Musk is occupying his time with DOGE. Tesla stock also dropped after Trump announced tariffs earlier this month.
In addition, Tesla’s update to its autopilot software in China disappointed Chinese owners, Reuters reported. Several Chinese social media users said the update did not achieve the capabilities Tesla has advertised for years. Rival Chinese automakers were offering similar driver-assistance features at a lower price or for free, the users said.
Musk is still the world’s richest person, even as CNBC reports he lost more than $100 billion in net worth since December.
Elon Musk’s net worth
According to Forbes’ real-time billionaires list, as of Feb. 27, Musk has a net worth of $355.6 billion, owing to his Tesla and SpaceX companies.
Bloomberg’s data from that same date reports Musk’s net worth is $349 billion.
The total has him well ahead of Jeff Bezos ($228 billion, per Forbes) and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg ($231.4 billion).
How has Elon Musk made his money?
Musk may be known for his recent ventures, but one of his first successes came through Zip2, a software company comprised of city guides.
Co-founded with his brother, Kimbal, the company was acquired for $307 million in 1999. At this time, he also co-founded a direct bank, which ultimately became part of PayPal.
The now-famed money management entity sold for $1.5 billion in 2002, which led to Musk creating SpaceX in the same year.
More than two decades later, SpaceX was reportedly worth more than $210 billion in 2024.
When did Elon Musk become a billionaire?
The X owner first appeared on Forbes’ billionaire list in 2012 with a net worth of $2 billion. Forbes reported his net worth in October 2011 was $680 million.
Musk has a business portfolio that includes Tesla, X, SpaceX, Starlink, Neuralink and Tesla Energy.
In addition, Musk is working to open a Montessori school in Bastrop, Texas. Ad Astra is a nonprofit focusing on science, technology, engineering and math for children ages 3 to 9, per the school’s website.
“Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” the school’s website read.
Long into being a billionaire, Musk purchased X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion in October 2022.
Elon Musk as a billionaire
Walter Isaacson followed Musk for three years for work on a biography and said that Musk was not motivated by generating extreme wealth.
“There are a lot of weird things and demons and drives that motivate him, but money isn’t number one,” Isaacson told CNBC in 2023.
“I think that if he wanted to make money, he wouldn’t have bought Twitter. He wouldn’t have sent rockets to Mars, and he probably wouldn’t do electric vehicles,” he added.
At a Tesla owners’ meeting in Silicon Valley, Musk was asked why he is still working despite his financial situation.
“The more we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness, the better we can understand what questions to ask about the answer that is the universe,” he said.