Elon Musk became the first person in the world to own a trillion-dollar fortune after his aerospace company, SpaceX, officially listed on the stock exchange on June 12. This is an unprecedented, enormous fortune in history.
Musk was already the world's richest individual before SpaceX's initial public offering (IPO). He owned approximately 200 billion USD in shares and options as CEO of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Following SpaceX's stock market debut, he gained over 800 billion USD more, thanks to holding nearly 40% of the company's shares. Both Forbes and Bloomberg currently estimate Musk's total wealth at about 1.1 trillion USD.
However, most of Musk's assets exist only on paper, not as cash in a bank account. Their value depends entirely on how investors continue to appraise Tesla and SpaceX in the future.
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Elon Musk during US President Donald Trump's visit to China in May. Photo: Reuters |
Elon Musk during US President Donald Trump's visit to China in May. Photo: Reuters
Analysts indicate that 1.1 trillion USD is almost impossible to spend in one lifetime. If one were to spend 1 million USD every hour, continuously 24 hours a day, it would still take over a century to spend 1 trillion USD.
Meanwhile, if this amount were divided equally among the nearly 8.2 billion people worldwide, each person would receive 122 USD.
According to CNN, to better visualize the scale of this fortune, here are six things with a lower value than Elon Musk's assets:
GDP of most nations worldwide
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), only 20 economies globally have a GDP exceeding 1.1 trillion USD. This means most countries have an economic size smaller than Musk's fortune. For instance, South Africa, the billionaire's home country, has a GDP of 480 billion USD.
Manhattan's economy
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A view of Manhattan from One World Trade Center in June 2021. Photo: Reuters |
A view of Manhattan from One World Trade Center in June 2021. Photo: Reuters
Manhattan, a hub for many leading financial institutions and corporations in the US, including the Wall Street financial district, had a GDP exceeding 1 trillion USD in 2024. This represents the most recent data available from the US Federal Reserve (Fed).
All real estate in Houston
Houston, Texas, is the 4th largest city in the US, after New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. This city serves as a center for the US oil and gas industry. The total value of all residential and commercial real estate in Houston is approximately 879 billion USD, based on the latest available figures.
All new cars purchased by Americans in one year
After housing, oto and trucks represent the largest expenditure for most Americans. The average price of a new vehicle here reached a record 48,402 USD last year. Americans purchased approximately 16.3 million new vehicles in 2025, totaling an approximate value of 789 billion USD.
Other technology billionaires
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Billionaires Larry Ellison (top left), Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. Photo: Reuters |
Billionaires Larry Ellison (top left), Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. Photo: Reuters
Musk's fortune could soon far outpace other prominent technology billionaires. Even when combining the assets of the four billionaires ranked after him on the world's richest list—Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Ellison—their combined wealth only reaches about 1.044 trillion USD, which is less than Musk's.
However, similar to Musk, these billionaires amassed their wealth through stakes in the technology companies they founded.
All professional sports clubs worldwide
Sports clubs are among the luxury assets highly favored by billionaires. But with 1 trillion USD, Musk could acquire almost all teams on the planet.
In fact, the 50 most valuable sports clubs globally combined were only valued at approximately 353 billion USD, according to Forbes' statistics late last year. Among them, the Dallas Cowboys stands as the world's most valuable sports club, estimated at about 13 billion USD.
Ha Thu (according to CNN, Forbes, AP)
