Elon Musk Is No Longer A Trillionaire As SpaceX Stock Comes Back To Earth

Elon Musk has slipped back below the $1 trillion wealth mark after a steep fall in SpaceX shares cut more than $100 billion from his paper fortune. The drop came only days after the company’s market debut briefly made him the first person to cross the trillion-dollar threshold, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Bloomberg now places Musk’s net worth at $957 billion. The decline reflects a sharp reversal in SpaceX’s valuation, which had climbed close to $3 trillion before investors turned cautious. Even after the fall, Musk remains the world’s richest person by a wide margin, with a fortune still far ahead of other global billionaires.

SpaceX selloff pulls Elon Musk below trillionaire mark

The biggest driver of the wealth decline has been SpaceX, Musk’s largest asset. Shares of the space and satellite company have fallen below $150 after a rapid selloff. The slide wiped out more than $600 billion in market value across three trading sessions, according to the figures cited by Bloomberg.

Musk’s own loss during the fall is estimated at nearly $118 billion. The figure is not a realised cash loss, but a reduction in the market value of his holdings. Billionaire wealth rankings often move sharply because they are tied to fluctuating share prices and private or public market valuations.

SpaceX had earlier surged after its blockbuster stock market debut, lifting its valuation to nearly $2.99 trillion. That rise pushed Musk briefly into trillionaire territory. The reversal shows how quickly paper wealth can move when a founder’s fortune is concentrated in a single high-growth company.

Bloomberg estimates Musk’s SpaceX stake at about $744 billion, making up nearly 80 per cent of his total wealth. He owns around 38 per cent of the company, including shares and stock options. That concentration means even a modest percentage change in SpaceX’s value can move his net worth by tens of billions of dollars.

Why SpaceX shares came under pressure

The selloff followed a broader downturn in technology stocks and concerns about SpaceX’s future spending plans. Investors have been reassessing companies with ambitious artificial intelligence programmes, especially where funding needs could rise sharply. SpaceX has signalled heavy investment in AI projects, including plans linked to data centres in space.

The company has also indicated that part of a forthcoming bond offering would support its AI expansion. Such spending may strengthen long-term ambitions, but it can also raise near-term questions about cash requirements, debt, profitability and execution risk. Those concerns appear to have weighed on investor sentiment after the initial post-listing excitement.

SpaceX remains central to Musk’s wealth because it sits across several large markets. Its businesses span rocket launches, satellite internet, defence-linked contracts and future space infrastructure. That breadth helped fuel investor enthusiasm, but it also means the company is valued against demanding expectations for growth, margins and capital deployment.

When a company is priced for rapid expansion, any concern about costs or market conditions can produce a large correction. The latest fall does not erase SpaceX’s position as one of the world’s most valuable companies. It does, however, show that the valuation attached to its future plans remains sensitive to investor confidence.

How Musk compares with other billionaires

Despite losing trillionaire status on Bloomberg’s index, Musk’s lead remains substantial. Bloomberg estimates Google co-founder Larry Page’s wealth at around $297 billion, placing him far behind Musk. The gap underlines how unusual Musk’s wealth position is, even after one of the largest short-term drops recorded for an individual fortune.

The scale of the decline is also striking in global billionaire terms. Musk’s estimated loss of nearly $118 billion in a few days exceeds the total fortune of many of the world’s richest people. It is roughly comparable to, and slightly above, the estimated wealth of India’s Gautam Adani, placed at about $117 billion.

Different wealth trackers can also show different figures. Bloomberg currently puts Musk below $1 trillion, while Forbes continues to estimate his net worth at around $1.1 trillion. Such gaps are common because rankings use different methods to value private stakes, options, debt, share pledges and real-time market movements.

Tesla, Musk’s other major source of wealth, has also faced pressure. The electric vehicle maker’s shares fell around 5 per cent this week after US regulators opened a safety investigation into a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model 3 reportedly using an advanced driver assistance system. Bloomberg values Musk’s Tesla stake at about $158 billion.

For investors and market watchers, Musk’s move below the trillion-dollar mark is less about personal spending power and more about valuation risk. His fortune remains heavily exposed to companies priced on future growth. As SpaceX and Tesla trade through market scrutiny, his ranking may continue to shift sharply with investor sentiment.