Elon Musk’s wealth is higher than South Africa’s GDP

Elon Musk, whose wealth has been turbocharged since President-elect Donald Trump’s win last month, became the first person to reach $400 billion in net worth.

The most recent catalyst was an insider share sale of his privately held SpaceX, which boosted Musk’s net worth by roughly $50 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Tesla Inc. shares also rallied to an all-time high Wednesday, pushing Musk’s fortune to $447 billion.

Musk’s one-day wealth jump of $62.8 billion is the largest on record and helped propel the combined fortunes of the world’s richest 500 people above $10 trillion.

The group’s net worths are similar in size to last year’s combined gross domestic products of Germany, Japan and Australia.

Musk has added about $218 billion to his net worth since the start of 2024, more than any other member of the group.

Tesla shares, which make up the bulk of Musk’s fortune, have gained 71% this year and closed Wednesday at $424.77, their first record high since 2021.

Expectations that Trump will streamline the rollout of self-driving cars and eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles that help the company’s competitors have helped buoy Tesla’s stock.

Musk is also slated to occupy a key role in the new administration as co-head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.

While it will work outside the government, it gives him a bully pulpit in Washington and a direct line to the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, the value of his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, has more than doubled to $50 billion since it last raised money in May.

On Wednesday, SpaceX and its investors agreed to purchase $1.25 billion of shares from employees and other company insiders.

The deal valued the privately held space exploration firm at about $350 billion and made SpaceX the most valuable private startup in the world.

The company makes most of its money on contracts with the US government and can likely depend on more support under a Trump administration.

The president-elect lauded Musk’s vision of putting astronauts on Mars in campaign speeches and joined Musk at a SpaceX launch in Texas shortly after the election.

Elon Musk’s wealth versus South Africa’s GDP

Elon Musk’s fortune of $447 billion, which equates to R7.9 trillion, is higher than South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).

GDP is a measure of a country’s economic performance that calculates the total value of all goods and services produced within a country’s borders.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that South Africa’s GDP will be $403 billion in 2024. This translates to R7.3 trillion.

This means that Elon Musk’s net wealth exceeds South Africa’s GDP by hundreds of billions of rands.

It is noteworthy that Elon Musk was born and raised in South Africa. Musk was born in Pretoria in 1971 and showed a special aptitude in computing from a young age.

When he was 12, he coded a space fighting game called ‘Blastar’, which he sold for $500 to the PC and Office Technology magazine.

He matriculated from Pretoria Boys High School and attended the University of Pretoria for five months before leaving South Africa for Canada.

He attended Queen’s University at Kingston in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he received bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics.

He moved to California, the home of Silicon Valley, in 1995 to attend Stanford University but never enrolled in classes.

He joined forces with his brother, Kimbal Musk, and Greg Kouri to build Zip2. In 1999, they sold Zip2 to Compaq for $307 million.

Musk then founded X.com, which ultimately became PayPal. In October 2002, PayPal was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in stock.

Musk used his $180 million cut to invest $100 million in SpaceX, $70 million in Tesla, and $10 million in Solar City.

These companies, particularly Tesla, have grown tremendously, helping to make Musk the richest man in the world.