Ilon Musk became the first person whose fortune reached 400 billion dollars, reports UNN with reference to Bloomberg.
The latest catalyst was the insider sale of shares in his private company SpaceX, which boosted Musk's fortune by about $50 billion in one fell swoop to $439.2 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.
Musk's fortune has changed dramatically since the end of 2022, when at one point his fortune shrank by more than $200 billion. But it has especially increased recently after Donald Trump's election victory last month, as Musk has become his most prominent political donor and supporter.
Tesla Inc. shares have surged about 65% since before the election, fueled by expectations that Trump will make it easier to produce unmanned cars and eliminate tax breaks for electric vehicles that help Tesla's competitors. Musk is expected to take a key role in the new administration as co-director of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, which will give him a podium in Washington and a direct link to the Oval Office.
Meanwhile, the value of his artificial intelligence startup xAI has more than doubled since it last raised money in May to $50 billion, and the Wall Street Journal reported last month that Trump's victory has helped attract new interest.
SpaceX and its investors agreed Wednesday to buy $1.25 billion worth of stock from employees and other company insiders. The deal, which values the private space research firm at about $350 billion, makes SpaceX the most valuable private startup in the world.
The company makes most of its money from contracts with the U.S. government and can likely count on more support under a Trump administration. The president-elect has praised Musk's vision of taking astronauts to Mars in campaign speeches and joined Musk at a SpaceX launch in Texas shortly after the election.
Jared Isaacman, Trump's pick to head NASA, is a billionaire and tech company executive who made the first commercial spacewalk on a chartered SpaceX launch in September. Last month, he called the company “the most innovative, literally impressive organization I've ever seen” after investing $27.5 million in SpaceX in 2021 through his payments firm.
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