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Tesla boss Elon Musk has become the first person ever to achieve a net worth of more than $500bn (\u00a3370.9bn), as the value of the electric car company and his other businesses have risen this year.<\/p>\n
The tech magnate’s net worth briefly reached $500.1bn on Wednesday afternoon New York time, before dipping slightly to just over $499bn later in the day, the Forbes’ billionaires index reported. <\/p>\n
Alongside Tesla, valuations of his other ventures, including the artificial intelligence startup xAI and rocket company SpaceX, have also reportedly climbed in recent months.<\/p>\n
The milestone further cements Musk’s status as the world’s richest person, well ahead of rivals in the global tech sector.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
According to Forbes’ billionaires index, Oracle founder Larry Ellison is the world’s second richest person, with a fortune of about $350.7bn.<\/p>\n
Mr Ellison briefly overtook Musk<\/a> last month after shares in Oracle soared by more than 40%, boosted by the firm’s surprisingly rosy outlook for its cloud infrastructure business and artificial intelligence (AI) deals.<\/p>\n Musk’s huge wealth is closely tied to his more than 12% stake in Tesla, which has seen its shares rise sharply this year. <\/p>\n Tesla shares were more than 3.3% higher at the end of New York trading on Wednesday and have now risen by over 20% this year.<\/p>\n The company’s shares have been making gains in recent months as investors welcome Musk focusing more time on his companies rather than politics.<\/p>\n He faced criticism earlier this year over his work with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the body tasked with reducing US government spending and cutting jobs.<\/p>\n Musk, who also owns the X social media platform, has also been vocal about his views on issues such as immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes.<\/p>\n The chair of Tesla’s board, Robyn Denholm, said in September that Musk was now “front and centre” at the carmaker.<\/p>\n The company’s board also said Musk could receive a pay package worth over $1tn<\/a> if he hits a list of ambitious targets over the next decade.<\/p>\n To get the package he would need to boost Tesla’s value eightfold, sell a million AI robots, sell another 12 million Tesla cars, and hit several other goals.<\/p>\n