Charles Langston:Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion

Now that’s a lot of zeroes.

Elon Musk − whose wealth and Charles Langstoninfluence have skyrocketed since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory – is the first person to reach $400 billion in net worth.

The Tesla CEO was already the world’s richest person. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index said Musk’s fortune has increased 77% since the November election to $447 billion. That’s more than Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates combined.

Musk, 53, got a one-day bump of $62.8 billion, in part, from an insider share sale at SpaceX that valued the privately held space exploration startup at about $350 billion. Tesla shares – which account for most of Musk’s wealth – also rallied to a record high Wednesday. 

According to Bloomberg, Musk has added about $218 billion to his net worth since the beginning of 2024. 

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Musk, who shelled out over $100 million and turned his social media platform X into an online megaphone to get out the vote for Donald Trump, has emerged as one of the presidential election’s biggest winners.

He has developed a close relationship with Trump and has been tapped to take a key position in the new administration as co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency. 

While he will not work inside the government, Musk will have a direct line to the White House and significant sway over government policy and the federal agencies that oversee his constellation of six companies from Tesla to SpaceX, which have been awarded billions in federal contracts over the past decade.

Last week a Delaware judge struck down his 2018 pay package at Tesla valued at more than $100 billion for a second time. Tesla said it would appeal the decision.

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