Elon Musk’s Wealth: A Deep Dive into Investments, Legal Battles, and Controversial Ventures
Watan-A few days ago, French billionaire Bernard Arnault reclaimed the top spot on the world’s richest list, surpassing American billionaire Elon Musk. This came after the stock of LVMH, the luxury goods group he heads, rose. Musk’s wealth, as the owner of SpaceX and Tesla, stands at $204.2 billion. However, where does the controversial billionaire place his money?
Last Tuesday, a Delaware judge nullified a significant portion of Elon Musk’s Tesla stocks, Employee Stock Options (ESO), granted to him in 2018. The court ruled that these options, valued at $56 billion, were “unfair” because Musk “had close relationships with two board members who negotiated the deal, and he had significant control over the process.”
Due to the court ruling, Musk won’t be able to trade or sell these stocks. Considering the high level of uncertainty about the future, including a possible appeal of the ruling, Forbes reduced Musk’s stake in Tesla’s employee stock options by 50%, reducing his net worth by $25.5 billion.
So, where does Elon Musk put his wealth?
Elon Musk, lacking a significant amount of cash, retains his wealth in ownership stakes in several companies, including Tesla. Musk owns 411 million shares and around 304 million employee stock option shares in Tesla, totaling about $127 billion, the largest part of his wealth.
These calculations do not include the recent court order that asked Musk to return some of the employee stock options he received.
Besides Tesla, Musk founded SpaceX, a private company manufacturing rockets and satellites since 2002. Musk owns 42% of SpaceX’s total shares, with a value exceeding $71 billion. The company collaborates with NASA, launching rockets carrying spacecraft and conducting trips to the International Space Station. SpaceX aims to return astronauts to the moon for NASA’s first human mission to the moon’s South Pole, scheduled for 2026.
Elon Musk’s Interest in Buying Twitter
Elon Musk also made headlines by purchasing Twitter for around $44 billion in a controversial deal in 2022. Since the acquisition, Musk has laid off the majority of the company’s employees, appointed a new CEO, and faced declining advertiser confidence, leading to a decrease in Twitter’s value. Musk owns 79% of Twitter (formerly known as X), which is now valued at less than half of Twitter’s value at the time of the deal.
In 2016, the “Boring Company” was born as a result of Elon Musk’s frustration with traffic congestion. The American billionaire proposes “mass transit” operations underground through tunnels.
The company aims to build a high-speed tunnel network near some of the most congested American cities.
In 2017, Musk announced that he had received “verbal government approval” for the “Hyperloop” project connecting Washington, D.C., to New York City, reducing travel time to 29 minutes. However, the project did not come to fruition.
The “Hyperloop” is a concept for a high-speed transportation system involving capsules that travel at high speeds inside low-pressure, air-free tubes.
Musk owns $3.3 billion worth of shares in this company, which completed its largest project to date in Las Vegas with a 2.7-kilometer transportation route used by over 1.5 million people since its opening in 2021, according to the company’s website.
Success of Brain Chip Implantation in the First Human
In a separate context, Elon Musk recently announced that the first human patient had received a brain chip implant produced by his startup, and the patient is recovering well. In a post on (X), he stated that “preliminary results show a promising increase in neural cells.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the company permission last year to conduct its first human brain chip implant test.
Musk stated in a separate post on (X) that the Neuralink chip will be called “Telepathy.”
Neuralink, on its website, reported that the chip enables individuals with quadriplegia to control devices with their thoughts.
