For the first time in history, a single person now sits on a paper fortune of more than $800 billion. According to wealth estimates tracked by business outlet Forbes, the SpaceX acquisition of AI company xAI has lifted Elon Musk’s net worth to roughly $852 billion, an increase of about $84 billion in one stroke.
At the heart of that jump is a blockbuster merger that values SpaceX at about $1 trillion and xAI at around $250 billion, creating a combined enterprise of $1.25 trillion. Reuters reports that investors in xAI were paid in SpaceX stock, tying the AI startup directly to the rocket and satellite business as it prepares for an eventual stock market listing.
How SpaceX and Tesla shape Musk wealth
Forbes now estimates that Musk owns roughly 43% of the merged company, a stake worth about $542 billion on paper. That single holding is larger than many national stock markets and now represents the core of his wealth.
On top of that, he keeps about 12% of Tesla, valued near $178 billion, plus Tesla stock options worth around $124, according to multiple analyses that draw on the same Forbes data set.
The scale is hard to grasp from the vantage point of an ordinary paycheck or an electric bill that seems to creep higher every summer. By Forbes’ own comparison, Musk now holds roughly $578 billion more than the second richest person, Google cofounder Larry Page. That is the equivalent of adding another tech titan’s fortune on top of his own.
Global artificial intelligence investment and Saudi Arabia role
Behind the headline number sits a broader story about who is financing the next wave of artificial intelligence and space infrastructure. Saudi Arabia’s state-backed AI firm Humain recently invested $3 billion into xAI as part of a $20 billion dollar Series E round completed just before the merger.
That stake has now turned into shares of the combined SpaceX xAI company, aligning the kingdom’s economic diversification plans with Musk’s vision for global AI and satellite connectivity.
Officials in Saudi Arabia frame the move as a bet on data centers, high-performance chips, and rollout of xAI’s Grok models across the Gulf region. Financial press reports describe the merger as part of a wider consolidation in AI, where access to energy, cloud infrastructure, and undersea cables can matter as much as clever algorithms.
For everyday users, those investments show up less in stock tickers and more in the speed of their phone connections and the reliability of cloud tools at work.
SpaceX IPO plans and market impact
For Musk, the tie up arrives just as bankers and regulators are weighing how to take SpaceX public. Bloomberg and Reuters coverage suggests a possible dual class share structure and a valuation that could climb beyond $1.5 trillion, with an initial fundraise of up to 50 billion.
If that listing arrives in a buoyant market, his net worth could move yet again, in either direction, with every sharp swing in the share price.
Will Elon Musk become the first trillionaire?
Analysts already talk about the “Muskonomy”, a web of companies that stretches from reusable rockets to brain implants, and many see a high chance that he will become the first trillionaire within a few years if current trends hold.
Others warn that such concentrated paper wealth rests on complex private valuations and a cash hungry AI business that reportedly burned through billions last year.
For most readers staring at their own bank apps, the numbers feel abstract, yet they offer a clear signal about where global money is flowing right now toward rockets, data centers, and frontier AI models rather than factories or oil fields.
The detailed wealth analysis underlying these estimates was published on Forbes.
