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Elon Musk’s net worth has fallen by roughly $650 billion in just over five weeks after sharp declines in the market values of both Tesla and newly public SpaceX erased a significant portion of his paper wealth. Despite the dramatic drop, Musk remains the world’s richest person by a substantial margin.
Musk’s fortune reached an estimated peak of about $1.45 trillion on June 16, shortly after SpaceX’s record-breaking initial public offering pushed the company’s valuation to $2.64 trillion. By July 23, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his wealth at around $738 billion as both of his largest holdings suffered steep losses.
SpaceX has experienced the largest decline. Since reaching its post-IPO high, the company’s stock has fallen more than 41%, reducing its market capitalization from $2.64 trillion to about $895 billion. Analysts attribute the selloff to fading post-IPO enthusiasm, a delayed Starship launch announced on July 16, and a broader reassessment of high-growth AI-related stocks. The shares also briefly slipped below their IPO price after a prolonged losing streak.
Tesla added to the pressure after reporting second-quarter earnings that disappointed investors despite stronger-than-expected revenue and record vehicle deliveries. The automaker posted revenue of $28.24 billion and delivered 480,126 vehicles during the quarter. However, adjusted earnings per share missed analyst expectations by nearly 39%, while operating income plunged almost 57% year over year. Free cash flow also turned negative as the company sharply increased spending on artificial intelligence, robotaxis, the Optimus humanoid robot, Dojo supercomputing, and other long-term projects.
Tesla shares dropped more than 14% following the earnings report, leaving the company’s market value at roughly $1.2 trillion.
The losses represent a decline in the market value of Musk’s holdings rather than money he has actually realized by selling shares. His wealth continues to fluctuate with the performance of Tesla and SpaceX stock.
Investors will now be watching Tesla’s profitability in the third quarter and whether its heavy capital spending begins to deliver results. For SpaceX, attention is focused on future Starship launches and the company’s upcoming share lockup period. Those developments could
