SAN FRANCISCO
Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is nearly halfway to becoming the planet’s first trillionaire, Forbes magazine has reported.
- $500 Billion Milestone: The 54-year-old Tesla and SpaceX CEO briefly became the first person to achieve a net worth of $500 billion ($500.1bn) as shares in his electric vehicle company rebounded from his clumsy stint in politics, among other gains.
- Current Net Worth: The publication’s “Real-Time Billionaires” tracker reported that his net worth hit $500.1 billion on Wednesday before dipping back to $499.1 billion.
- Ranking: Following him on the Forbes list are Oracle CEO Larry Ellison with a net worth of $350.7 billion, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with a net worth of $245.8 billion.
Musk’s Entrepreneurial History
The South African-born tech entrepreneur graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and dropped out of Stanford University:
- First Millions: Musk banked his first millions when he sold an online publishing software company to US computer maker Compaq for more than $300 million in 1999.
- Founding Ventures: His next company eventually merged with PayPal, and after leaving that venture, he went on to found space rocket company SpaceX in 2002 and became the chairman of electric carmaker Tesla in 2004.
