Elon Musk is the richest person in the world and the upcoming SpaceX IPO is set to make him even richer. Here's a look at Musk's wealth and just how far ahead he is of the everyday common man or woman.
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Musk's Net Worth Vs. Average Person
Benzinga previously shared a study comparing the Gutenberg printing press to the wealth of Elon Musk.
In that experiment, Benzinga calculated how much a person would have if they printed $1 million each day since the legendary invention was first introduced in 1440.
While it is illegal for a person to print money, the study tracked that $1 million times the 213,401 days since the printing press was invented at the time would yield $213.4 billion, falling short of the then $233 billion wealth of Musk.
Two years later, Musk is now worth $703 billion according to Bloomberg, and the extra days of printing $1 million would come even less close to catching the billionaire despite 586 years of printing $1 million a day.
While that exercise may have been less realistic given the number of years, here's another example of just how high Musk's net worth has become.
Taking the current net worth of $703 billion, it would take the average American 19.26 years (19 years, 95 days) making $100 million per day to equal Musk's current net worth.
Making $100 million per day is nearly impossible, outside of having a printing press and illegally printing money. Some investors have been able to make this amount perhaps in one day with big stock gains or selling off companies. Completing the $100 million earned per day over and over again is out of reach.
And that is, of course, assuming Musk's net worth doesn't go up in the future.
If Musk ends up being the world's first trillionaire, a person would have to earn $100 million per day for 10,000 days, or 27.40 years (27 years, 146 days)
Elon Musk Net Worth on Path to $1 Trillion
Musk became a billionaire at the age of 41 and later became the world's richest person thanks to the success of the share price of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).
Musk was worth so much at one point in 2021 that he could buy every MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL team.
A drop in Tesla’s share price in 2022 took Musk’s wealth down so much that he was awarded a Guinness World Record for the biggest one-year drop in net worth.
After being passed by Bernard Arnault and falling to the second-richest person in the world, Musk regained the title of richest man in the world in 2023 thanks to a recovery in Tesla’s share price.
Musk’s wealth increased by $92.0 billion in 2023 in one of the biggest one-year jumps ever, ending the year worth $229 billion.
Now worth more than $700 billion, Musk's net worth is likely to rise significantly in the coming years.
Musk owns around 44% of SpaceX. Bloomberg currently values the space and AI company at $1.03 trillion. The upcoming IPO will see SpaceX go public at a valuation of around $1.75 trillion. This valuation would make Musk a trillionaire.
There is also a new pay package from Tesla that could pay Musk nearly $1 trillion in compensation if he reaches certain milestones.
Prediction market Kalshi currently shows a 91% chance that Musk becomes a trillionaire before 2027.
Musk is likely to become the world's first trillionaire and it could take a long time before someone comes close to catching up to his soaring wealth, even if they make $100 million per day.
Parts of this article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Image created using photos from Shutterstock.
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