Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Elon Musk is no longer a trillionaire. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive, who just two weeks ago became the first person in history to amass a fortune exceeding one trillion dollars, has seen that milestone erased in a brutal week-long sell-off that wiped more than $500 billion from his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The slide, driven by a sharp correction in technology stocks and mounting concerns over inflated valuations in the artificial intelligence sector, has reduced Musk's estimated wealth to approximately $957 billion as of June 24, 2026.
Musk's meteoric rise to trillionaire status came on June 12, when SpaceX, his rocket company, completed the largest initial public offering in history, listing on the Nasdaq at an opening price of $150 per share and valuing the company at more than $2 trillion. Investor enthusiasm sent SpaceX shares soaring by as much as 67 percent in the first three days of trading, with the stock touching an intraday peak of $225.64 on June 16. At that point, SpaceX briefly overtook Amazon and Microsoft to become the world's fourth-most valuable listed company. Forbes calculations suggested Musk's net worth peaked at an astonishing $1.45 trillion last week.
The euphoria, however, proved short-lived. SpaceX shares have since fallen about 30 percent from that high, closing Tuesday near $156. Tesla, Musk's electric vehicle company, was swept up in the broader technology rout, with its shares falling 5.8 percent on Tuesday alone, wiping more than $89 billion off its market value. The sell-off was not isolated to Musk's companies. Nvidia declined by 4.1 percent, and Micron, a trillion-dollar AI chip business, sank by 13.2 percent as investors fled technology stocks.
Analysts have pointed to growing skepticism about whether the rapid growth and massive spending linked to artificial intelligence can be sustained. SpaceX's IPO filings revealed that the company reported a net loss of $4.9 billion for 2025 and a further loss of $4.28 billion in the first quarter of 2026, reflecting heavy spending on AI infrastructure, Starship development, and other growth initiatives. Its AI division alone burned through $12.7 billion in capital spending. Veteran valuation expert Aswath Damodaran cautioned this week that the trillion-dollar narrative is driven almost entirely by AI speculation. "The market is huge… that's what's driving the trillion, 2 trillion, 2.5 trillion pricing. But the business is really not a business yet," he said.
The losses represent the largest personal wealth decline ever recorded. Musk had previously held the record for the single-biggest loss in wealth when his fortune declined by an estimated $165 billion in 2022 as Tesla shares plunged. This week's decline has far surpassed that mark, with Bloomberg data showing that SpaceX's market value shed around $928 billion from a peak of $2.9 trillion to just over $2 trillion. According to Reuters, short sellers have increased their bets on further falls in SpaceX's share price, with short interest rising from 8 percent to 13 percent in a single session.
Despite the staggering losses, Musk remains the world's richest individual by a wide margin. His SpaceX stake is still valued at approximately $744 billion, representing nearly 80 percent of his total wealth, while his Tesla holdings are worth about $158 billion. The nearest rival on the wealth rankings is Google co-founder Larry Page, whose $297 billion fortune trails Musk's by roughly $660 billion. The decline in Musk's personal fortune over the past week is worth more than the entire wealth of the world's second-richest man. Another billionaire who has seen a reversal of fortune is Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose net worth peaked at $400 billion last September before dropping to about $210 billion following a major sell-off in Oracle's stock.
Despite the recent volatility, credit rating agencies Moody's, Fitch, and S&P Global have assigned SpaceX investment-grade ratings with a "stable" outlook following its IPO, indicating confidence in the company's financial position. Analysts note that Musk's wealth could rise again if SpaceX and Tesla shares recover. However, with traders warning that the sell-off could resume and Goldman Sachs cautioning that AI-linked stocks have become vulnerable to any signs of a slowdown in spending by tech giants, the path to reclaiming trillionaire status remains uncertain. For now, Musk's tenure as the world's first trillionaire lasted just ten days.
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