Here’s what has Elon Musk built on his way to $1 trillion?

Elon Musk made history on Friday, by becoming the world's first trillionaire after SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq at $150 per share, pushing the rocket company's market capitalisation past $2 trillion and his personal fortune to an estimated $1.1 to $1.26 trillion.

What made Musk different from all other rich individuals on earth is the fact that he is richer than the GDP of many countries, and his total fortune is even more than the wealth of the next four wealthiest people on earth.

How was Musk's fortune built?

The journey of Musk to being a 13-figure rich man began here in Silicon Valley. He helped found X.com, which later became known as PayPal.

The acquisition of PayPal by eBay in 2002 brought Musk some money, which he then invested elsewhere.

SpaceX

SpaceX became the primary source of his wealth. Using the development of the reusable first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, he reduced the price for launches to about 90%, transforming the cost structure of space missions. 

The company's network of satellites in low Earth orbit for the Internet (Starlink) made it possible for SpaceX to earn money from millions of customers around the world. And using Starship as a heavy-lift rocket, which is the largest in the history of spaceflight, the company aims for missions to Mars and AI data centres in space orbits.

Tesla, Optimus, and the autonomous car concept

Tesla revolutionised the auto market worldwide by producing the Model 3 and Model Y, which have made it the most valuable automaker globally.

AI, X, and ‘everything app’

Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, rebranded it as X, and started combining it with his AI projects. He created xAI and developed Colossus and Colossus II supercomputing clusters, which he intended to compete with the leading AI laboratories; then, he consolidated xAI into SpaceX's corporate structure, as artificial intelligence became an essential part of the company's investor pitch.

Political influence

As part of his donations to the 2024 US presidential campaign of Donald Trump, Musk was the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, a federal advisory group that cut $215 billion in funding, including the shutdown of USAID.