Elon Musk's Net Worth Surges $16B on Tesla Stock Jump, SpaceX Starship Launch Hitting Key Milestones

Elon Musk's net worth surged by $16 billion (£12 billion) on Monday to $453 billion (£341.1 billion), according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. The massive wealth surge in a single day could be attributed to the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock price gaining 5.4% in a single trading session and SpaceX's Starship megarocket hitting key milestones on the same day.

The Tesla stock is up over 72% in the past six months, despite phases of volatility due to lower sales, rising competition, the end of electric vehicle tax breaks, and brand damage due to Musk's political involvement with DOGE.

The latest stock rally could be attributed to Tesla vice president Tao Lin's Weibo post that Tesla's Shanghai gigafactory began its Q4 production ramp-up. Generally, Q4 is Tesla's biggest quarter in terms of deliveries, and Shanghai is its largest assembly facility by volume, as it supports China and other regions of the world.

In China, Tesla sales in September were 71,525 vehicles, its second-highest monthly total this year behind March's 74,127 tally, according to the China Passenger Car Association. September's total deliveries were a 25% jump sequentially, though sales were down less than 1% year over year. The company's EV market share climbed slightly to 8.66% from 8.33%, driven by the new Model YL.

The Tesla stock has rallied since Musk disclosed buying 2.5 million company shares worth $1 billion (£753 million). Musk already held a 13% stake in Tesla, but continues to seek more control of the firm, which has been aggressively investing in robotaxis, automation, and AI. The company's board also proposed a compensation plan for Musk last month valued at around $1 trillion (£753 billion), which would grant him up to 12% of the firm's shares if it achieves certain milestones. As of now, Musk's Tesla stock price has a relatively higher impact on his net worth than it did before.

Elsewhere, Musk owns around 42% of SpaceX via a trust, according to a December 2022 filing with the Federal Communications Commission, making the rocket manufacturer a major driver of Musk's net worth. The company was reportedly in discussions this August to raise money and sell insider shares at a valuation of close to $400 billion (£301.2 billion).

Late Monday, SpaceX's Starship megarocket successfully completed an hour-long test flight. It achieved key goals like deploying mock satellites and relighting an engine while in space. Yesterday's test mission was expected to be the last for the current iteration of Starship prototypes. SpaceX said it will debut a new Version 3 for the next flight.

'Every major objective of the flight test was achieved, providing valuable data as we prepare the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy,' according to SpaceX.

'The focus now turns to the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, with multiple vehicles currently in active build and preparing for tests,' SpaceX stated on its website. 'This next iteration will be used for the first Starship orbital flights, operational payload missions, propellant transfer, and more as we iterate to a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle with service to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.'

A Forbes report estimated that if Musk's wealth growth trajectory remains the same, he could become the world's first trillionaire by early 2033, when the first of two vesting dates for his $1 trillion Tesla pay package hits.

However, the wealthiest man on the planet noted that the pay package is not about money, but rather about having a hold over Tesla to ensure safety if the company builds millions of robots.

'If I can just get kicked out in the future by activist shareholder advisory firms who don't even own Tesla shares themselves, I'm not comfortable with that future,' Musk wrote in a September post on the X social media platform.

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