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Polybius

(20,977 posts)
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 11:05 AM Oct 4

Musk hits $500 billion milestone as Tesla, SpaceX, xAI valuations rise

Source: Malaysa Sun

AUSTIN, Texas: Tesla CEO Elon Musk this week became the first person in history to amass a net worth of US$500 billion, according to Forbes, fueled by a rebound in Tesla shares and soaring valuations of his other ventures this year.

Forbes' billionaires index pegged Musk's wealth at $500.1 billion as of 4:15 p.m. ET, putting him well ahead of the world's most affluent peers. Oracle founder Larry Ellison was the second-richest on the list, with a fortune of $350.7 billion.

Musk's wealth is tied largely to Tesla, where he held a 12.4 percent stake as of mid-September. Tesla shares have climbed more than 14 percent this year, including a 3.3 percent gain that added over $6 billion to Musk's personal fortune.

The surge comes after Tesla's rocky start to 2025, when slowing car sales and shrinking margins weighed heavily on the stock, leaving it one of the weakest performers among the "Magnificent Seven" group of mega-cap technology companies. Investor sentiment began improving in late summer as Musk renewed his focus on his companies after months spent in Washington.

Read more: https://www.malaysiasun.com/news/278614240/elon-musk-becomes-first-person-to-reach-usd500-billion-net-worth



Tesla shares up 14 percent this year. I wish I had bookmarks from earlier in the year when some posters were predicting Tesla's demise.
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Fiendish Thingy

(21,042 posts)
1. Of course, the US dollar has dropped something like 15% against other currencies this year
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 11:18 AM
Oct 4

So it’s more of symbolic number, not really meaningful.

I wonder what Musk’s 2024 vs 2025 net worth is measured in Euros?

FoxNewsSucks

(11,362 posts)
2. Here's a meaningful number:
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 01:12 PM
Oct 4

If one could go back to the end of the last Ice Age, and save $10,000 every day, eighty-two thousand years later one would STILL only have 60% as much money as Musk.

And some people still don't think he should pay taxes.

Ziggysmom

(3,936 posts)
3. Just think of the good that could be accomplished if that money was even partly
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 01:50 PM
Oct 4

used to help people. Makes me sad and angry at the same time.

madville

(7,829 posts)
16. He doesn't really have that much
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 10:32 AM
Oct 5

The vast majority of his wealth is the value of the stock and companies, and that is overinflated x10 and would quickly crash to a fraction of it’s current value if the government tried to take it and sell it off. His liquid assets are probably 1% or less of his net worth, just say it’s 5 billion. Confiscate and divide that among the US population and everyone gets about $15.

It’s just not really much money to the population as a whole. The value of Tesla stock (trillions) IS important to many state, municipal, and union pension funds and investment accounts though, greatly devaluing it would hurt many millions of people.

LudwigPastorius

(13,609 posts)
4. If you stacked a billion one dollar bills into a pile that was 48 X 40 feet,...
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 02:22 PM
Oct 4

it would be 46 feet high.


If you stacked Elon Musk's wealth in one dollar bills into a pile that was 48 X 40 feet, it would be 23,100 high...or about the height of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas.

madville

(7,829 posts)
15. And it's not really much money globally
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 10:12 AM
Oct 5

If you divided his wealth equally among the planet each person would get $60

LudwigPastorius

(13,609 posts)
17. If you lined up Musk's one dollar bills end-to-end...
Sun Oct 5, 2025, 04:51 PM
Oct 5

they would reach from here all the way to the planet Mercury. ( 48 million miles and change with Mercury at its closest point to Earth.)

slightlv

(6,785 posts)
5. I know this is anathema... almost heresy... to say in this country,
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 02:29 PM
Oct 4

but I think we should mandate a livable minimum wage and a liveable maximum wage. We used to do this through the progressive tax rates. It's a concept whose time has come back around again, exponentially. I don't want to thwart creativity, but really intelligent and/or creative people don't need to make such enormous sums of money (when stacked against their employees), like the people on the level of Musk, Theil, and others do today. The accomplishment and betterment of humanity should be the ultimate goal, not trillions of dollars, while everyone around them starves. I guess that's why I always wanted to live in a Star Trek world. (sigh)

LudwigPastorius

(13,609 posts)
6. I think we'll start to see a real push for a universal basic income when AI starts to take the jobs of...
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 02:38 PM
Oct 4

white collar workers and mid-level management.

So, we've got that going for us...right up to the point when a superintelligent AI decides we're not needed at all.

slightlv

(6,785 posts)
7. I agree... and have agreed for some years now about he UBI.
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 02:55 PM
Oct 4

Everywhere it's been implemented (that I'm aware of, at least) it's been a boon to the population, with little to no waste on "evil kinds of substances or temptations. It's amazing, but give people a livable wage and they actually manage to live within its boundaries and put a little aside for savings. It's like... wow... I can *count* on this amount coming in each month, how much easier it is for planning, etc. Treat people like sentient adults and most of them will surprise the heck out of you and actually act that way!

I've thought about the restructuring of SSI in the same way, perhaps with an added percentage to account for the difference in ways that we have to spend our money vs the younger generations. But it would have to be handled a bit differently to put in the same "untouchable" category that FDR created for it. Of course, look at how "untouchable" it's become since Reagan... grrrrr...

Bengus81

(9,515 posts)
8. That Tesla shit stock is at 430.00 and is worth 43..maybe. Talk about CULT buying...
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 07:33 PM
Oct 4

Traders with loads of cash are banking easy on the ups and downs. The rest of the lemming shareholders will get burned when reality finally sets in about that shit car company.

The $7500 tax credit ended on Sept 30th and Musk knows how bad that will hurt his company while the big boys can suck it in.

in2herbs

(3,997 posts)
9. The government is not allowed to make a profit. So is the value of these Elon profits figured
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 08:01 PM
Oct 4

only on his contributions with the govt's investment deducted from this total????

How rich is Elon and others if this were done?


llmart

(16,961 posts)
12. Unfortunately, I'm seeing more and more of them on the road...
Sat Oct 4, 2025, 10:28 PM
Oct 4

and I live in the Detroit suburbs. There was a time if you drove a "foreign made" car in this area, you were likely to get your car keyed. How times have changed here. If you worked at one of the Big Three automakers and drove a competitor's vehicle you had to park in a special parking lot far from the building and take one of their shuttle buses.

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