Elon Musk on Track to Become First Trillionaire in History

When Elon Musk's SpaceX officially lists on the Nasdaq this Friday (June 12, US time), the controversial tech billionaire will almost certainly cement his place in history as the first person on Earth to amass a $1 trillion fortune.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is currently the world's wealthiest person with an estimated net worth of $696 billion ahead of SpaceX's landmark initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday (June 11). But his 42% stake in the rocket-and-artificial-intelligence company will propel him into unprecedented territory.

SpaceX will begin trading at a valuation of $1.77 trillion upon debut, with 555.6 million shares priced at $135 each. Estimates suggest the value of Musk's holdings could range from $743 billion to $866.5 billion. If all goes smoothly, Musk — who also leads Tesla — could officially lock in trillionaire status before markets close on Friday.

$1 trillion is a sum so vast it defies human comprehension. UK charity Oxfam notes that if Musk spent $1 million every day, it would take him 2,740 years to exhaust a trillion dollars. Compared with other billionaires, Musk would be more than three times as wealthy as Google co-founder Larry Page, the world's second-richest person with $304 billion, per the Bloomberg index.

Musk will also rank among the wealthiest individuals in all of history. Although cross-era comparisons are fraught due to differences in purchasing power and living standards, Musk is on track to hold a larger slice of the US economy than the 19th-century tycoons who launched the industrial age. John Jacob Astor, considered America's first millionaire, died in 1848 with a fortune of $20–$30 million — roughly 1% of US GDP then. A few decades later, steel magnate Andrew Carnegie amassed about $380 million — 0.5% of US GDP when he died in 1919. Oil baron John D. Rockefeller's estate at his death in 1937 was $1.4 billion, about 1.5% of US GDP. As a trillionaire, Musk would hold around 3% of US GDP.

Guido Alfani, a professor of economic history at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, said another way to compare Musk's wealth with that of his predecessors is to consider the amount of labor it could buy. “If we do that, we can certainly conclude that Elon Musk could be the richest person ever — except for emperors or rulers whose wealth was indistinguishable from state assets,” Alfani told Al Jazeera. He cited figures showing Musk could hire 557,800 workers in 2025, versus 116,000 for Rockefeller in 1937 and 48,000 for Carnegie in 1901.

Just as today's Musk is a polarizing figure, the tycoons who amassed huge fortunes in the mid-to-late 19th century were equally controversial. Astor was notorious as one of New York City's largest and most unscrupulous landlords. Carnegie, Rockefeller and their Gilded Age contemporaries were branded “Robber Barons” for their ruthless and anti-competitive business practices. “What made them famous is that they were very good at making and keeping money. There is very little evidence they did much else,” said Richard Wright, professor emeritus of history at Stanford University. “Some people admired them for their wealth. Most contemporaries despised them.”

Musk has also waded deep into politics, aligning himself with Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and later spearheading the Trump administration's controversial push to cut waste and fraud in the federal government. Since acquiring Twitter for $40 billion in 2022, Musk has used the social media platform (now rebranded as X) as a personal megaphone, promoting right-wing views on sensitive cultural issues such as immigration and transgender rights.

However, Musk differs from his predecessors in philanthropy. The Gilded Age barons were prolific philanthropists, building hospitals, libraries, universities and museums, and donating heavily to disease-eradication efforts. Carnegie famously gave away 90% of his fortune in the last two decades of his life. In 2010, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, calling on the world's wealthiest to donate the majority of their assets to charity. Musk joined the pledge in 2012, but most of his charitable giving is channeled through the Musk Foundation and often aligns with his business interests. According to the Capital Research Centre, Musk also tends to donate via intermediary funds such as Vanguard Charitable and Fidelity Charitable.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that, at least so far, Musk's massive fortune has not spurred the kind of broad political or social change seen during the Gilded Age. That era witnessed widespread labor unrest and social activism, culminating in landmark antitrust laws and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission. Joshua Rosenbloom, a professor of economics at Iowa State University, argues that today's political and economic system is more resistant to change than the “much more flexible” order of the 1870s through the late 1920s. “Rockefeller and Carnegie had significant power in their time, and Musk's influence is not much different. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, great wealth concentration was a contentious political issue — perhaps even more than today,” Rosenbloom said. Daniel Waldenström, a professor of economics at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm, Sweden, noted: “Musk faces competition, and the market valuations of his companies can change. In 2022, an inflationary bubble wiped out more than 60% of Tesla's market value.”