Elon Musk’s net worth soars to nearly $750 billion

Elon Musk, the maverick CEO behind Tesla and SpaceX, has inched closer to an almost unimaginable milestone: a personal fortune approaching $750 billion. The surge comes after a US court restored Musk’s colossal 2018 Tesla stock options package, worth a staggering $139 billion, overturning a previous ruling that had called it “unfathomable.”

According to Forbes’ billionaires index, this latest development nudges Musk ever closer to the threshold of becoming the world’s first trillionaire, a status that has long hovered at the edge of imagination.

The Delaware Supreme Court’s 49-page decision reversed a 2024 lower-court ruling that had rescinded the package, arguing that the earlier rescission left Musk uncompensated for six years of tireless innovation, risk-taking, and leadership at Tesla. The reinstated 2018 pay deal grants him options to acquire roughly 304 million shares at a discounted price, contingent upon Tesla hitting specific milestones. If exercised in full, Musk’s stake would swell from 12.4 per cent to 18.1 per cent of the company’s expanded share base.

Tesla’s board had previously warned that disrupting the package could risk losing the visionary at the helm, whose ventures stretch far beyond electric cars to the stars themselves.

Musk’s net worth had already soared earlier this week when reports suggested that SpaceX, his rocket-fueled empire, might go public, catapulting his wealth past $600 billion. With SpaceX now reportedly eyeing a tender offer valuing the company at $800 billion, his fortune has surged by an additional $168 billion to an estimated $677 billion.

The trajectory doesn’t stop there. SpaceX aims for an initial public offering next year, with valuations potentially reaching $1.5 trillion. Meanwhile, Musk’s 12 per cent stake in Tesla alone is worth $197 billion, excluding the new stock options. His forays into artificial intelligence via xAI Holdings, where he owns 53 per cent of the firm, could add another $60 billion to his portfolio, with the company reportedly seeking new funding at a $230 billion valuation.

In a world where fortunes rise and fall like the stock market itself, Musk’s wealth now seems to orbit a stratosphere of its own, propelled by innovation, risk, and an unrelenting vision that bridges Earth and space.

With IANS inputs