Elon Musk became the first person to ever hold a net worth of US$400 billion (A$628.436 billion) on Thursday.
His net worth was raised by an insider share sale of SpaceX this week, with the company and its investors purchasing around US$1.25 billion of shares. SpaceX was valued at US$350 billion after the sale.
“What’s really crazy about this is that almost no investors wanted to sell shares even at a $350B valuation!” Musk said on X about the sale. “SpaceX reduced the amount of shares it bought back from employees in order to allow some new investors in.”
According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth is around US$429 billion. As well as being CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, he owns X (formerly Twitter) and has founded ventures like Neuralink and The Boring Company.
Tesla’s shares have been up by 71% this year, closing at an all-time high of US$424.77 on Wednesday.
The company’s share prices have rallied since the United States presidential election last month. Musk is a close ally of president-elect Donald Trump, and has been tasked with co-chairing an unofficial advisory commission known as the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk was also the first ever person to have a net worth of US$300 billion, reaching the milestone in 2021.
He first became the world’s richest person in January 2021, though he has been passed by competitors like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at times.
Bezos, the world’s second richest person, has a net worth of US$242 billion, according to Forbes.
Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) share price closed at US$418.10, down from the previous day’s $424.77. Its market cap is US$1.34 trillion.