Overview

• Forbes’ real-time tracker showed Musk briefly at $500.1 billion on Wednesday before easing to roughly $499.1 billion by 5 p.m. ET, while Bloomberg’s index put him near $470 billion.
• A rebound in Tesla shares supplied the largest lift, with a 3.3% gain Wednesday adding more than $6 billion to his fortune and a year-to-date rise of about 14%.
• Rising private valuations also factored in, including SpaceX near $400 billion and xAI last marked at about $75 billion, alongside Musk’s large equity stakes.
• Musk disclosed buying nearly $1 billion of Tesla stock in September via an SEC filing, a move viewed as a vote of confidence as the company pushes into AI and robotics.
• Tesla’s board has proposed a performance-based pay plan that could be worth up to $1 trillion pending a November shareholder vote, while his voided 2018 award remains on appeal.