The world’s richest man Elon Musk now has his sights on becoming the first-ever trillionaire after his Tesla stock was reinstated by a court in Delaware
Elon Musk has become even closer to becoming the first-ever trillionaire after a court reinstated his Tesla stock.
The Tesla founder’s net worth climbed to $749bn (£559bn) on Friday, making him the first person to surpass the $700bn milestone, according to Forbes’s billionaires index.
He is already the world’s richest man, and around $500bn (£373bn) richer than the second-richest, Google co-founder Larry Page.
His wealth ballooned after a Delaware Supreme Court ruling reinstated his 2018 Tesla stock options worth $139bn (£103bn), which were rescinded last year.
Musk had been awarded a pay package including stocks worth $56bn (£41bn) at the time.
But this was struck down in a lower court in 2024 as the huge bonus was deemed “unfathomable”.
Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick at the time concluded that Tesla’s directors were conflicted and key facts were hidden from shareholders when they voted to approve the plan.
But her verdict was ruled improper and inequitable as it left the Tesla head “uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years”.
Musk celebrated on his social media platform X, posting that he had been “vindicated”.
Last month, Tesla shareholders awarded Musk a pay plan worth up to $1trn (£747bn) if he achieves five milestones in the next decade.
They include delivering 20 million Tesla vehicles and one million robots, drive 10 million subscriptions to Tesla’s self-driving feature and lift Tesla’s market value to $8.5trn (£6.3tn).