Elon Musk
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The world’s richest person just hit another major milestone thanks to the soaring valuation of his rocket maker SpaceX.

Elon Musk just took another giant leap toward becoming the world’s first trillionaire. Earlier this month, Musk’s rocket maker SpaceX launched a tender offer valuing the firm at $800 billion, up from $400 billion in August, two of the company’s investors tell Forbes. That boosts the fortune of Musk, who owns an estimated 42% of SpaceX, by $168 billion to an estimated $677 billion as of 12 p.m. Eastern Monday. Musk is now the first person ever worth $600 billion or more. No one else has ever been worth $500 billion.

The tender offer comes as SpaceX is targeting an IPO in 2026 that could value the company at around $1.5 trillion, one of the company’s investors confirmed to Forbes. The tender offer and SpaceX’s IPO plans were previously reported by a number of outlets. Representatives for Musk and SpaceX did not respond to Forbes’ requests for comment.

Even without an IPO at that valuation, which would likely make Musk a trillionaire, Musk’s estimated $336 billion stake in SpaceX is now his most valuable asset, according to Forbes’ estimates. His 12% stake in Tesla, meanwhile, is worth $197 billion, excluding stock options from his 2018 CEO Performance Award that were voided by a Delaware judge in January 2024. Forbes has discounted the value of those options by 50%, to $69 billion, pending the result of Musk’s ongoing appeal of the ruling to the Delaware Supreme Court.

If Musk loses that appeal, Tesla could still provide him with an alternative route to becoming a trillionaire. That’s because in November, Tesla shareholders approved a record-breaking pay package that could give Musk up to $1 trillion in additional stock (before taxes and the cost of unlocking the restricted shares) if Tesla achieves “Mars shot” performance milestones like growing its market cap more than eightfold over the next ten years.

Now, Musk is closer to becoming a trillionaire than losing his title of world’s richest person, given his $425 billion lead over current No. 2, Google cofounder Larry Page, who is worth an estimated $252 billion. And with Musk just $23 billion short of hitting the $700 billion mark, he may not have to wait long for his next major milestone.