Elon Musk Net Worth: Is He The Richest Man In The World?

By Mohit Kamboj On Aug 12, 2022

Elon Musk is a Canadian-American businessman, inventor, and investor of South African origin. Elon Musk has valued at $198 billion dollars. Though he wears multiple jobs and is continually topping his newest project, he is best recognized as the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, the CEO and main product architect of Tesla Motors, and the chairman of SolarCity. He is the wealthiest person in the world and the wealthiest person in contemporary history.

Elon Musk, as of this writing, is the sole owner of 43% of privately held SpaceX and approximately 24% of all outstanding Tesla shares. Tesla’s market cap hit $1 trillion for the first time in October 2021. SpaceX also raised $100 million at a valuation of $100 billion that same month. For the first time, Elon’s wealth approached $300 billion.

Elon Musk Tesla Salary

As CEO of Tesla, Elon does not get a salary. Instead, he has a compensation scheme that is related to the company’s market valuation milestones in a way that is both exceedingly uncommon and tremendously rewarding. When the strategy was developed, Tesla had a market cap of approximately $50 billion.

There are a total of 12 milestones, and each one is based on a market cap growth of $50 billion. Elon achieved each and every one of the milestones, and as a result, he is eligible to receive the whole 100 billion dollars under the bonus plan. Following confirmation from the Board of Directors that the target has been met, the relevant number of shares will be distributed on a quarterly basis.

Elon Musk Early Life

In Pretoria, South Africa on June 28th, 1971, Elon Musk entered the world. At age 10, Musk purchased his first computer, and at age 12, he taught himself how to write code. In fact, he sold his first piece of software, a game he dubbed Blaster when he was just 12 years old. In 1989, at the age of 17, he relocated to Canada to attend Queen’s University.

In 1992, however, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania to pursue a double major in business and physics. Musk earned his first degree in economics before switching gears to acquire a second bachelor’s degree in physics and eventually a doctorate in energy physics. But he left Stanford in the midst of the dot-com boom and joined the ranks of the internet’s early pioneers.

His Success

Zip2 Corporation, Musk’s first startup, was an online city guide. In 1999, a Compaq Computer company paid $307 million in cash and $34 million in stock options to acquire Zip2. Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services/payments startup, in 1999 as well. In 2002, PayPal was acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion in stock, following the subsequent year’s acquisition of X.com, which led to the formation of the current PayPal.

Musk launched Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) in 2002 with the purpose of manufacturing spacecraft for commercial space travel. In 2008, NASA gave SpaceX a contract to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, with future ambitions to transport astronauts.

Next was Tesla Motors, an automobile manufacturer committed to mass-producing inexpensive electric vehicles. In 2003, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla. The company’s first workers were Elon, Ian Wright, and J.B. Straubel, who were retrospectively recognized, co-founders.

Tesla Motors had its first public offering in June 2010, raising $226 million. Daimler had acquired a share in the company, and the company had partnered with Toyota. Musk and SpaceX made history in 2012 when they successfully launched an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket into space. In 2013, he proposed a new mode of transportation called the Hyperloop, which would allow commuters to travel between large cities at speeds exceeding 700 mph.

In contrast to railroads, the Hyperloop would convey passengers via tubes. Musk estimates that the Hyperloop may be constructed, tested, and operational between seven to ten years.

Elon Musk Tesla Compensation Plan

The board of directors of Tesla first revealed Musk’s $100 billion remuneration package in January of 2018. Stock options worth up to $100 billion were to be granted to Musk over a 12-year period. When Tesla’s market capitalization reaches $100 billion, the first tranche of options will be released (roughly double the value when the plan was announced). From that point on, each time the company’s market cap increased by $50 billion, Elon earned another of the tranches.

None of the 12 tiers would have been met and he would have received no bonus at all.

In October 2021, Tesla’s market cap soared beyond $1 trillion for the first time, and Elon was able to access all 12 of the plan’s tranches within three years.

Elon Musk Personal Life

Elon has been married three times, both times to the same woman, who is an actress named Talulah Riley. Between the years 2000 and 2008, he was married to the Canadian author Justine Wilson. They have five sons between them. In addition to that, he has been romantically linked to the actress Amber Heard as well as the Canadian musician Grimes. Grimes and Elon became parents to a son in May of 2020, and they called him X/-E A-Xii.