Elon Musk just hit another jaw-dropping milestone—he’s now the first person in history to cross the $500 billion net worth mark.

According to Forbes, his wealth briefly climbed to about $500.1 billion on Wednesday before dipping just under that line later in the day. The surge comes as Tesla’s stock keeps climbing, along with strong valuations for his other ventures like SpaceX and his AI startup, xAI.

This cements Musk’s spot as the richest person in the world, comfortably ahead of Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who sits in second place with roughly $350 billion. Ellison actually passed Musk for a short while last month after Oracle shares spiked on AI optimism, but Musk has quickly pulled far ahead again.

A big chunk of Musk’s fortune comes from his 12% stake in Tesla, which has had a strong year so far—shares are up more than 20% in 2025 alone. Investors seem to like that Musk has been spending more time on his companies lately and less time in politics. Earlier this year, he faced backlash over his involvement with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (yes, nicknamed DOGE).

Still, Musk hasn’t been shy about wading into hot topics—he frequently shares his views on immigration, diversity programs, and government spending on his social platform X.

Meanwhile, Tesla’s board remains firmly in Musk’s corner. Chair Robyn Denholm said he’s “front and centre” at the company, and there’s even a potential $1 trillion pay package on the table if he can hit some wild goals over the next decade. That includes selling a million AI robots, 12 million cars, and pushing Tesla’s value up eightfold.

And Musk himself seems confident—he bought about $1 billion worth of Tesla stock just last month.

Tesla still faces plenty of challenges, from fierce competition with China’s BYD to its ambitious shift into AI and robotics. But for now, Musk is sitting on a fortune no one else in history has ever touched: half a trillion dollars. Photo by Trevor Cokley, Wikimedia commons.