Elon Musk's wealth skyrockets, becomes first person to surpass $400 billion

What just happened? Elon Musk is no longer just the richest person in the world, he's now the richest person in the world by a very wide margin. The Tesla boss' net worth has reached $447 billion, making him the first person ever to cross the $400 billion milestone.

According to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, Musk's net worth has increased an incredible $218 billion this year. The jump is almost as high as second-place Jeff Bezos' and third-place Mark Zuckerberg's total worth: $249 billion and $224 billion, respectively.

Musk's fortune has been boosted since the US election in November, rising 77%. That includes a single-day rise of $62.8 billion after SpaceX and its investors agreed to purchase as much as $1.25 billion of insider shares, valuing the space exploration firm at about $350 billion.

Bloomberg's Billionaires Index

Being Tesla's largest individual shareholder means that Musk has also benefitted from the EV's stock price reaching an all-time high of $424.77 this week. It's believed Musk's influence over the Trump administration will benefit Tesla, which has seen its stock increase 65% since the president beat Harris. The close relationship with Trump is expected to help Musk's other companies, too.

Artificial intelligence startup xAI, another one of Musk's six companies, has also been adding to his net worth. The company told investors it raised $5 billion in a funding round valuing it at $50 billion last month, more than doubling its value compared to a few months earlier, writes The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier this month, Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick upheld her original ruling that denied Musk his multibillion-dollar compensation package from Tesla.

The judge called the original $56 billion amount "excessive." Based on the price of Tesla shares, the package would now be worth as much as $120 billion. Tesla said it intends to appeal the decision.

Interestingly, it appears that Bloomberg includes the Tesla pay package in its valuation of Musk. But even without it, he's still the richest person in the world by a long way.

SpaceX's Starlink service has made headlines more than once this week. First came reports that a Ukrainian-American nonprofit organization has submitted two filings to the FCC objecting to the company's proposal to put another 22,488 satellites into low-Earth orbit. It cites Musk's alleged ties to Russia and the environmental impact among its reasons for opposing the plans.

Elsewhere, police in India have sent a legal demand to Starlink asking it to reveal the buyer of a Starlink Mini device that was found on a boat carrying $4.2 billion worth of methamphetamine.