Elon Musk is the world’s first trillionaire

There are thousands Of billionaires around the world. But there is only one trillionaire.

Elon Musk He became the first person to amass a personal fortune of more than $1,000,000,000,000 — that’s 12 zeros — after his shares. Rocket company SpaceX It debuted on the Nasdaq Friday.

SpaceX’s initial public offering on Thursday valued the company at about $1.8 trillion, up from a recent private valuation of about $1.25 trillion. After shares opened at $150 on Friday morning in New York and continued to rise, SpaceX’s market value reached about $2.2 trillion.

Between Musk’s large ownership stakes in SpaceX, his car company Tesla, and numerous other ventures, his personal coffers have expanded enough to push him into trillionaire territory, according to Bloomberg and Forbeswhich conducts extensive research to identify the world’s richest individuals. In 2024, his net worth exceeds $400 billion, according to Bloomberg, meaning it has nearly tripled in less than two years. (Important caveat: Musk doesn’t have a trillion dollars in his bank accounts. Most of his wealth is tied up in stocks, some of which he’s prohibited from selling anytime soon. He also has Pledge to donate Half of his eventual wealth.)

He remains a reviled figure in many circles, including his efforts last year Dismantling parts of the American government And his years of promotion and Allow Hate speech through its presence on social media. To protest the IPO, one activist group Giant inflatable doll Musk in New York’s Times Square this week.

In addition to Musk, Forbes estimates the wealth of 3,350 people it considers to be mere billionaires, ranging from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos near the top to music mogul Dr. Dre at the bottom. Meanwhile, Bloomberg tracks the 500 richest billionaires.

Musk is now three times richer than his closest rival, the founders of Google, according to estimates. Potential upcoming IPOs for generative AI labs OpenAI and Anthropic It will foster at least a few additional billionaires, but it won’t bring anyone anywhere near Musk’s orbit. Retail investors Buy SpaceX shares now He certainly won’t get rich right away, and neither will other people Living near dirty XAI data centers.

As long as SpaceX continues to successfully move people, cargo and data between Earth and space without facing little competition, Musk will remain in a league of his own.