Masks off: how Elon Musk lost his status as a dollar trillionaire

American entrepreneur Elon Musk has lost his status as a dollar trillionaire, where he stayed for about 12 days. His fortune has dropped to $957 billion. The main reason for the decrease in the businessman's capital is the fall in the shares of SpaceX. For more information about the rise and fall of the world's first dollar trillionaire, see Izvestia.

Falling off a pedestal

Elon Musk lost his status as a dollar trillionaire after only 12 days in it. The fortune of the American entrepreneur, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI) rating, has decreased to $957 billion.

The main reason for this is the fall in the shares of the SpaceX company founded by the businessman. It was the recent record of her quotes that allowed Musk's fortune to reach the $1 trillion mark. The decrease in the value of the technology corporation's securities led to a reduction in the entrepreneur's capital. Additional pressure was exerted by the depreciation of shares of the automaker Tesla.

SpaceX's securities began to fall in price the day before, and their value dropped by 10% during the day. At its peak, the stock price reached $225, but at the moment it was falling below $150. The capitalization of the technology giant decreased to $1.99 trillion, the corporation took the 7th place among the largest public companies in the world.

However, investors remain interested in Musk's business empire, Bloomberg believes. This week, SpaceX placed $25 billion in bonds. Demand for them reached $89 billion, which allowed the company to attract financing on more favorable terms.

By the way, there are alternative estimates of Musk's condition, indicating that he retains his status as a trillionaire. According to the estimates of the American Forbes, the entrepreneur's capital is $1.1 trillion.

Money for money

Elon Musk received the status of a dollar trillionaire in June, after SpaceX, founded by him, raised more than $85 billion during the IPO. Initially, the company placed 555.6 million shares on the Nasdag stock exchange at a fixed price of $135 per share, which, however, increased rapidly due to high demand. As reported by the Reuters news agency, the number of pre-orders for securities exceeded the number of issued shares by almost four times. As a result, the tech giant's value increased to more than $2.9 trillion, which included it in the top four most expensive companies in the world.

Musk's fortune immediately after the successful IPO of SpaceX was estimated at $ 1.05 trillion. By June 15, it reached $1.15 trillion, which was an absolute record in the history of observations.

The American entrepreneur owns 4.8 billion shares of the corporation (worth about $ 715 billion), in addition to which there are options for another 350 million shares with an exercise price of $ 8.40 per share (total value — about $ 50 billion). Thus, the businessman's share in the company is about 38%.

In addition, Musk owns about 10% of Tesla shares worth about $163 billion and options to buy almost 8% more of the company ($113 billion). The entrepreneur's fortune also includes stakes in Neuralink, Boring Company and funds from past sales of Tesla shares.

The high cost of SpaceX after the IPO, however, causes distrust among some experts. Investor Michael Burry questioned the corporation's stated price earlier. He noted that we are talking about "essentially a small space company, a niche telecommunications company generating less than $20 billion in annual revenue."

Out of competition

The loss of the status of a trillionaire, however, does not deprive Elon Musk of the title of the richest man on the planet. For the first time in the ranking of the world's wealthiest people according to the American Forbes, the entrepreneur entered in 2012 with a fortune of $ 2 billion.

Less than 15 years later, in December 2025, the businessman became the first person in history with a capital exceeding $ 600 billion. According to Bloomberg estimates, Musk's fortune was several hundred billion dollars more than that of Google co-founder Larry Page, who ranked second in the ranking of the richest people.