Tale of Two Trackers: Forbes and Bloomberg Chart Musk’s Rise to $500B

Depending on which billionaire index you follow, Elon Musk’s fortune is either colossal or slightly more colossal. Forbes reported this week that the tech entrepreneur became the first person ever to be worth $500 billion, while Bloomberg’s rival index calculated his wealth at a more conservative $470 billion. Regardless of the exact figure, both trackers agree he is far and away the richest person on Earth.
The Forbes list saw Musk’s wealth temporarily cross the half-trillion-dollar threshold on Wednesday before settling at $499 billion. The discrepancy between the two main wealth trackers highlights the different methodologies they use to value the private assets that make up a significant portion of Musk’s portfolio, particularly his stake in SpaceX.
Both indexes agree that the primary source of his wealth is his 12% stake in Tesla, the electric car company with a market cap now exceeding $1.5 trillion. The recent surge in Tesla’s stock, up 13% year-to-date, is the reason for his latest milestone. The stock’s rise has been fueled by fantastic performance, including a record 497,099 vehicle deliveries in the third quarter.
Musk’s other major holding is his 42% stake in the privately held SpaceX, which is reportedly seeking a $400 billion valuation. Valuing private companies like this is where the methodologies of Forbes and Bloomberg often diverge, leading to different overall net worth calculations. His AI company, xAI, adds another $75 billion valuation into the mix.
While he briefly ceded the top spot to Oracle’s Larry Ellison in September according to Bloomberg, Musk has since re-established a commanding lead. Bloomberg now puts Ellison’s wealth at $349 billion, a full $121 billion behind Musk. This gap underscores that, no matter how you count it, Musk’s fortune is in a class of its own.