How Much Richer Elon Musk Has Gotten Over the Last 5 Years
Written by
Crystal Mayer
Edited by
Brendan McGinley
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According to The Real-Time Billionaires List by Forbes, Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, amassing an unimaginable net worth of $487.7 billion. He’s atop the very short list in world history of people who can lose $10 billion in an ordinary day and not break a sweat.
While it may seem like the Tesla CEO has always been atop the world’s richest, he wasn’t nearly as wealthy just a few years ago. A surge in Tesla stock helped to drive the future trillionaire’s status into unchartered territories. Here’s just how much richer Elon Musk has gotten over the last five years.
Over $300 Billion Richer
While Elon Musk may not have been at the top of the Billionaires List in 2020, he was still worth a fortune. According to CNBC Make It, Musk began the pandemic-marked year with $30 billion to his name. A banner year for Tesla sent the entrepreneur’s skyrocketing. By the close of the year, the owner of SpaceX had a whopping $167 billion, earning him the title of second-richest person, behind Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Over the next five years, Musk would add another $300 billion to his net worth. Several factors helped to contribute to his unfathomable income increase, but we’ve only seen the beginning, if he can pull off the unprecedented.
‘$1 Trillion’ Pay Package
In November 2025, Tesla shareholders awarded Musk a nearly $1 trillion pay package (actually $878 billion) according to ABC News. The compensation package would make Musk the best-compensated CEO in history.
Conditions for the money, which is payable over the next decade, include that Musk catapult the market value of the company to $8.5 trillion through a series of benchmarks up from a roughly $1 trillion present-day starting point, according to the Independent. It also requires the production and delivery of a specified number of robo-taxis and humanoid robots. If successful, the pay package would, in combination with his existing wealth, make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
New Government Contracts, Less Oversight
At the beginning of 2025, Musk and President Trump announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE, with Musk at its head, focused on eliminating government spending. The program was officially (though arguably, according to Newsweek and Wired) disbanded after less than a year.
During the current administration, the Tesla CEO has benefitted from government contracts and less regulatory oversight, as reported by Forbes. In fact, Musk gained an additional $170 billion in the months after he endorsed President Trump.
SpaceX Spectacular
A fascination with the final frontier is something a few billionaires share. One thing that sets Musk and fellow wealthiest people Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos apart from the flock of other ultra-rich is their ownerships in multi-billion-dollar space companies. SpaceX is a critical part of the billionaire space race, with an estimated value of $449 billion, according to SmartAsset. Musk owns approximately 42% of the company, which is not publicly traded. His portion of the space company adds around $188 billion to his net worth.
Social Media Influence
Another key piece of Musk’s wealth is his ownership of X (formerly Twitter) and xAI. Together his holdings of these companies contribute around $66 billion to his bottom dollar, as reported by SmartAsset. Musk is known for being a leader in emerging industries, including AI and crypto. His ability to adapt with new technology and embrace change has helped him to become the richest man in the world. Musk continues to amass wealth through his various companies through a wide-ranging portfolio of companies.
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