Elon Musk is no longer a trillionaire, just weeks after becoming the first person to reach that milestone. The tech mogul's net worth skyrocketed to an estimated $1.11 trillion earlier this month when SpaceX went public and shares surged on Wall Street. However, SpaceX's stock plummeted this week, erasing his trillionaire status.
SpaceX stock decline
On Tuesday, SpaceX shares closed around $156, according to Business Insider. This marked a drop of more than 30% from an intraday peak of $225 on June 16. Despite the decline, shares remain higher than the initial trading price of $150 on June 12. The initial public offering had valued the artificial intelligence company at over $2 trillion.
Current net worth
Bloomberg's Billionaires Index now places Musk's total net worth at $957 billion, still making him the world's richest person. His wealth has historically experienced dramatic fluctuations, as most of it is tied to stock holdings in his companies, particularly Tesla and SpaceX. Tesla is considered one of the most volatile large-cap stocks in the market, and Musk is its largest individual shareholder and CEO.
What a trillion dollars could buy
Forbes noted that Musk's previous trillion-dollar net worth could have funded America's national defense budget or federal spending on Medicare, each around $1 trillion. It also equated to the GDP of Switzerland or Poland. Comparatively, Musk was worth 500 times more than Taylor Swift ($2 billion) and 100 times more than Dr. Dre ($1 billion). A stack of 100 trillion $1 bills could reach from Earth to the moon and back 14 times.
According to the UN, approximately $93 billion per year is needed to end world hunger by 2030, totaling $372 billion—just over a third of Musk's previous net worth. UK-based charity Crisis stated $1.9 billion would eradicate homelessness in the UK, while in the US, it would cost about $20 billion.
World's richest people
Bloomberg's Billionaires Index lists the top 10 richest people: Elon Musk ($957B), Larry Page ($297B), Sergey Brin ($276B), Jeff Bezos ($257B), Michael Dell ($223B), Larry Ellison ($219B), Mark Zuckerberg ($200B), Jensen Huang ($166B), Bernard Arnault ($161B), and Jim Walton ($147B). Eight of the ten have earned their fortunes in technology, with the exceptions being Arnault (consumer) and Walton (retail).
