Elon Musk’s fortune has taken a dramatic turn. Once defined by Tesla, his wealth is now anchored in SpaceX after a brutal stock market sell-off.
It all started in early January when Tesla reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter deliveries. The stock held up for a while—until Musk’s growing political entanglements and shifting priorities spooked investors. Since then, Tesla has lost nearly half its market value, and Musk’s net worth has shrunk by $121 billion.
Tesla’s market capitalization has slipped below the once unshakable $1 trillion mark, closing at $948.81 billion. The company’s stock tumbled 50% from its December peak, settling at $302.80 per share. The drop has been fueled by weak sales in China and Germany, a slowing EV market, and backlash over Musk’s own polarizing moves in the political sphere.
“In a nutshell, the word ‘balance’ has been missing with Elon Musk and his ability to run Tesla as CEO,” wrote Dan Ives, a longtime Tesla bull and analyst at Wedbush Securities. “The EV maker’s fundamentals have been soft, but Musk’s distractions aren’t helping.”
Adding to the pain, Tesla’s Q4 earnings report disappointed Wall Street. The company posted just 1% revenue growth in 2024, with net income declining for the second consecutive year to $8.4 billion. Analysts at JPMorgan slashed their global deliveries forecast for Q1 2025, predicting the weakest numbers since 2022. Meanwhile, protests against Musk’s leadership have erupted outside Tesla dealerships in multiple U.S. cities.
Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that Musk is fighting to reinstate his record-breaking 2018 Tesla pay package, which a Delaware judge voided in early 2024. That package—originally worth $65.3 billion—has now been slashed in half on Forbes’ wealth rankings due to ongoing legal battles. With Tesla’s stock in free fall, Musk’s stake in the company is now worth $97.8 billion, down sharply from its peak.
As Tesla falls, SpaceX soars. The privately held rocket company, which Musk owns 42% of, is now valued at $210 billion, up from $180 billion last year. That stake is now worth an estimated $147 billion—nearly $20 billion more than Musk’s Tesla holdings, according to Forbes calculations.
The last time SpaceX was Musk’s most valuable asset? 2019, when his entire fortune was just $20 billion.
SpaceX’s success is driven by booming demand for its Starlink satellite internet service and a steady pipeline of government and commercial launch contracts. In 2024, the company generated an estimated $13.1 billion in revenue—up 51% year-over-year—while Starlink alone nearly doubled sales to $8.2 billion, according to industry analysts at Payload Space. SpaceX remains the dominant force in commercial spaceflight, securing a growing number of NASA and U.S. military contracts.
Despite Tesla’s downturn, Musk still sits atop the billionaire leaderboard with an estimated net worth of $329 billion. SpaceX and Tesla remain the backbone of his fortune, but he also holds sizable stakes in X Corp (formerly Twitter), AI startup xAI, tunneling firm Boring Company, and brain-chip maker Neuralink. Together, these companies add another $45 billion to his wealth.
xAI, in particular, has been a surprise winner. The artificial intelligence startup has seen its valuation soar 110% since its launch, hitting an estimated $96 billion in recent secondary share sales. Meanwhile, X Corp has rebounded to its original $44 billion purchase price, reversing losses seen throughout 2023.
Still, Musk’s growing commitments are raising concerns. His political involvement, corporate ambitions, and legal battles are stretching him thin. Balancing six companies, a high-profile court case, and his role as a public provocateur, he’s got a lot on his plate.
Yet Musk remains confident in his typical old fashion. “Tesla will be fine long-term,” he wrote in an X post last week.
And despite the chaos, one fact remains clear: Even with Tesla struggling, he’s still the world’s richest person.
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