Tech billionaire and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is on the verge of becoming the world’s first trillionaire, with his fortune projected to exceed an unprecedented $1 trillion if SpaceX’s expected initial public offering goes ahead next week.
Musk currently holds an estimated $273 billion in Tesla stock and options. However, the planned IPO of SpaceX — his rocket and artificial intelligence company, could add another $841 billion to his wealth.
With Musk expected to control nearly half of SpaceX shares, the company is reportedly heading toward a valuation of about $1.77 trillion, potentially pushing his total net worth to roughly $1.11 trillion.
Despite the staggering figure, most of Musk’s fortune exists on paper through company shares and stock options, meaning its value depends heavily on investor confidence in Tesla and SpaceX.
One trillion dollars equals one million million dollars, an amount considered nearly impossible to spend within a single lifetime. Even spending $1 million every hour of every day would still take more than 100 years to exhaust such wealth.
Musk’s potential fortune would surpass the economies of most nations around the world.
According to International Monetary Fund data, only about 20 countries currently have economies larger than $1.1 trillion. Nations such as Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden, Singapore and Musk’s home country, South Africa, all have economies valued below his projected wealth.
Even major economic centres in the United States would pale in comparison. Manhattan, home to Wall Street and several corporate headquarters, recorded a gross domestic product slightly above $1 trillion in 2024.
Houston, one of America’s largest cities and a major hub for the oil and gas industry, has all its residential and commercial property valued at around $879 billion, still below Musk’s estimated net worth.
The combined spending of Americans on new vehicles also trails the figure. Although the average price of a new car rose to a record $48,402 last year, total purchases of 16.3 million vehicles in 2025 amounted to approximately $789 billion.
Musk’s projected wealth could also eclipse that of several fellow tech billionaires combined.
The estimated fortunes of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos together total around $1.09 trillion, slightly below Musk’s projected value.
Professional sports franchises worldwide are also worth far less collectively. Forbes estimates the world’s 50 most valuable sports teams have a combined value of about $353 billion, led by the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys at roughly $13 billion.
