Elon Musk has just crossed a financial milestone no one in history has reached before. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is now the world’s first person worth more than $700 billion, after a major legal reversal restored a massive stock award that had previously been voided, as reported by Forbes.
The jump came after the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that had canceled a 2018 Tesla stock options package awarded to Elon Musk. That package, now worth about $139 billion, had been invalidated earlier this year after a judge ruled that the process behind it was unfair due to Musk’s influence over Tesla’s board. On Friday, the state’s highest court ruled that rescinding the options was not an appropriate remedy, instantly restoring their full value.
Forbes estimates that Musk’s net worth now stands at roughly $749 billion. Until the ruling, Forbes had been discounting the value of those Tesla options by 50 percent. Removing that discount alone added nearly $70 billion to Musk’s fortune in a single stroke.
Tesla is once again Musk’s most valuable asset. Beyond the restored stock options, he owns about 12 percent of Tesla’s common shares, worth roughly $199 billion. Combined, his Tesla holdings now total about $338 billion. That figure does not include a separate pay package approved in November, which could eventually grant Musk up to $1 trillion in additional Tesla stock if the company hits extremely aggressive long-term targets, including multiplying its market value more than eightfold over the next decade.
Musk’s second-largest asset is his estimated 42 percent stake in SpaceX, now valued at about $336 billion. That valuation comes from a recent private tender offer that priced the rocket company at $800 billion, double its valuation just months ago. If SpaceX goes public as expected in 2026, some analysts believe it could be worth as much as $1.5 trillion, potentially making Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
To put the gap in perspective, the second-richest person in the world, Google cofounder Larry Page, is worth an estimated $253 billion. That puts Musk ahead by nearly half a trillion dollars.
The ruling does more than reshape a billionaire ranking. It underscores how closely Musk’s personal wealth is tied to legal decisions, equity incentives, and the future performance of his companies. With Tesla, SpaceX, and multiple moonshot-style compensation packages still in play, Musk’s record-setting fortune may not be done surprising anyone.