Elon Musk Net Worth: Starlink CEO Set to Become First Trillionaire From SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk is on course to become the world's first trillionaire after a planned stock market listing of SpaceX in the United States in June 2026, according to new figures from Forbes that put the Tesla and Starlink boss's net worth at about $835 billion as of 1 June.

Forbes published its June ranking of the world's richest people, showing how a buoyant US stock market has supercharged the fortunes of a small group of mostly American tech tycoons. The S&P 500 rose 5% in May and the Nasdaq 8%, lifting the combined wealth of the top 10 billionaires by $220 billion in a single month to a total of $2.9 trillion.

At the centre of it sits Musk. His personal fortune jumped by $53 billion in May alone, the third‑largest gain among the top 10. Tesla, his electric car maker, helped with a 14% share price rise over the month. Yet the real frenzy, as investors tell it, is around SpaceX, the rocket and satellite group behind the Starlink broadband network.

SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering and is targeting a valuation of $1.8 trillion. That figure is slightly below initial expectations reported by markets, but still high enough that, if realised, it would eclipse the record set by Saudi Aramco's 2019 listing and could push Musk's net worth beyond the trillion‑dollar threshold.

Trading in SpaceX stock is expected to begin as early as 12 June, with Forbes projecting that June 2026 could be the moment a trillionaire officially appears on its billionaire list. Nothing is confirmed yet, and all projections about a post‑IPO valuation should be treated with caution until an official prospectus and pricing emerge.

Elon Musk in a Different League

Musk has been sitting at the top of the global rich list since May 2024, when he overtook French luxury magnate Bernard Arnault. As of 1 June 2026, Forbes still ranks him as the richest man on the planet, ahead of a field now heavily dominated by US tech and AI wealth.

What makes Musk's situation unusual is the mix of assets driving his fortune. Tesla remains his most visible public company, and even a relatively modest monthly rise in its share price can translate into tens of billions of dollars added to his net worth. SpaceX, though, is the engine of the current speculation. Its Starlink satellite network has become central to investor narratives about global connectivity, defence and space‑based infrastructure, feeding into the eye‑watering $1.8 trillion valuation target.

Nine of the ten richest people on the latest Forbes list are American. The only exception is Arnault, head of luxury conglomerate LVMH, who slipped out of the top 10 in April for the first time in more than three years and has now re‑entered in ninth place after LVMH shares rebounded by 4% in May. All ten of the richest individuals are men and each is worth at least $141 billion, slightly lower than the $147 billion minimum a month earlier, reflecting some churn beneath the headline gains.

AI Fortunes Swell as Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Others Catch Up

If Musk is in a league of his own, he is not the only one surfing a technology wave. Forbes data show that Larry Ellison's wealth surged by $71 billion in May, taking him to about $276 billion and restoring him to the top five. Ellison, who co‑founded Oracle and now serves as its chairman and chief technology officer, has been one of the clearest winners from the artificial intelligence boom.

Oracle's shares climbed 40% in May as the group raced to build vast data centres across the US and unveiled a deal with the US Department of Defense on 1 May to deploy AI tools on classified military and intelligence networks. Ellison owns around 40% of Oracle's stock, so the rally dropped straight onto his personal balance sheet.

Close behind, Michael Dell recorded a $67 billion increase in net worth, the second‑largest monthly gain among the top 10. Dell Technologies' results on 28 May stunned analysts, with annual AI server revenue up 757% year on year. The reaction was dramatic: the stock leapt 33% in a single session, the best trading day in the company's history and more than doubled over the full month of May.

Those gains reshuffled the billionaire hierarchy. Both Ellison and Dell overtook Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth crept up by just $7 billion as Meta's shares rose 3% amid heavy AI spending and continuing layoffs. Zuckerberg now sits seventh on the list, a rare sign that not every AI‑themed stock is moving in lockstep.

Other familiar names have drifted in and out of the ultra‑rich club. The Walton family heirs, long anchored in the top tier thanks to their Walmart holdings, have fallen out of the top 10. Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who slipped off the list in February, has clawed his way back to tenth place after a 10% rise in Microsoft's share price, jumping from 15th position in May.

The longer‑term shifts are starker still. Larry Page, the Google co‑founder, now has a net worth above $300 billion, becoming only the third person in history, after Musk and Larry Ellison, to cross that mark. Bill Gates, once the default answer to 'who is the richest man in the world,' is no longer even in the top 10 after Forbes sharply revised its estimate of his fortune in October 2024 on the basis of newly available information.

On the women's side of the ledger, the richest remains Alice Walton, daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton, with an estimated $123 billion as of 1 June 2026. That places her 15th overall, down from 13th in May, underscoring just how far Musk and his fellow tech billionaires have pulled away from the rest of the pack.