Elon Musk’s short reign as the world’s first billionaire

Historic climb on the wings of SpaceX

After his space company SpaceX made a historic IPO on June 12, the share price, carried by the enormous enthusiasm of investors, skyrocketed. At one point, it reached a peak of $225 per share, and the company’s market value briefly exceeded two trillion dollars, ranking it among the most valuable companies in the world. That jump catapulted Elon Musk’s total wealth to a whopping $1.32 trillion. It is worth noting that one trillion is equal to one thousand billion.

A sharp drop and market turbulence

However, the euphoria of investors quickly subsided. Due to the changes and a broader selloff in tech stocks, fueled by concerns about a potential AI-driven stock market bubble, Musk’s net worth fell to $957 billion. On June 22 alone, a 16 percent drop in the value of SpaceX’s stock in one day reduced its total wealth by a staggering $240 billion. Despiteč significant loss, he still remains the richest person in the world, with a great advantage over the competition.

Musk’s 42 percent ownership in SpaceX gives him complete control over the company’s operations, which is why he has moć direct investments according to their own, often ambitious priorities. According to Bloomberg data, the value of his stake in SpaceX at the end of trading was $767.1 billion, with additional stock options worth $53.8 billion. At the same time, his shares in Tesla are valued at $168 billion, with options worth an additional $116.4 billion.

Controversies about wealth and political influence

Elon Musk’s status as the first billionaire immediately sparked a global debate about the extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth. According to the BBC, his assets are now comparable to the gross domestic product of developed countries such as Poland or Switzerland. This unprecedented wealth has made Musk an extremely powerful, but also controversial figure in world politics, whose moves have far-reaching consequences.

He donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the re-election campaign of US President Donald Trump, and for a few months last year he led the so-called Department for Government Efficiency (DoG). During his mandate, significant reductions in state spending were implemented, and Musk is credited with a key role in closing the important humanitarian agency USAID. Researchers in the medical journal The Lancet published a worrying estimate that such budget cuts could indirectly cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030.

Crite američkih senatora

Musk has also criticized the governments of the United Kingdom and other countries over immigration issues and what he called fueling divisions based on ethnicity. Senators from the ranks of American Democrats, such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, were among the politicians who most harshly condemned reaching the status of billionaires. Warren said it was a “wake-up call” that pointed to the urgent need to introduce a tax on the super-rich to close the gap between the richest and the rest of society.

Although he is called a billionaire, most of Elon Musk’s wealth is actually “paper wealth”, as it is based on the highly volatile market value of his shares, primarily in Tesla and SpaceX. He can’t sell his SpaceX shares for at least a year, so that wealth can’t be turned into cash right away. However, as a result of SpaceX’s listing on the stock market, it is expected that more than 4,400 current and former employees of the company will become richer, as they received part of their salary in shares.