From rockets to Tesla to brain chips: in an America where wealth is increasingly concentrated, Elon Musk’s assets are worth 800 billion dollars.
When you count in billions and trillions, even a few days can help generate a fortune. He knows something about it Elon Muskthe richest man in the world.
In fact, in the first weekend of May, the billionaire of South African origin has reached a new milestone in terms of net worth, exceeding $800 billion and cementing his position as the richest man on the planet.
Musk’s monstrous wealth
The figure is simply monstrous, using the company’s data as a comparison World Bank, Musk’s wealth is greater than the gross domestic product of 176 countriesnot only of small states, but also of giants like the United Arab Emirates (547 billion) and nuclear powers like the Pakistan (410 billion).
Even using the American economy, the largest in the world, the ratio still remains high, with the South African billionaire’s assets equivalent to 2.7% of the entire US GDP.
Beyond 500 billion of Musk’s wealth derive from his creation SpaceX (of which he personally holds 42%), which controls what is in fact the “space program” of the billionaire and the satellite communications system Starlink.
Furthermore, for a few months Musk has merged in SpaceX also his artificial intelligence company, xAIcreating a colossus with an estimated value of over 1,200 billion of dollars.
Then there is Teslathe car company that Musk owns approximately 12-13% of the shares, for an estimated value of over 166 billion of dollars.
In addition to the shares, there is a maxi-compensation plan approved by the shareholders, which would allow the billionaire to purchase other Tesla shares for a symbolic sum, the value of which is however estimated at 108 billion dollars.
Finally, there are the “minor” companies and holdings, including X, Neuralink (estimated value at 9 billion dollars) and various minimum shares of cryptocurrencies.
The goals of a “visionary”
However, it is not just “vile money”, because Musk is certainly a billionaire, but a billionaire with his own vision.
The goal of “conquest” of Mars it has been a leitmotif repeated almost like a mantra for several years now. Added to this are projects related to autonomous mobility, with i Tesla “robotaxi”. (self-driving cars without a driver) already being launched in some American cities.
Then there is Optimusthe humanoid robot designed to carry out dangerous or repetitive jobs, which Musk imagines will be produced in millions of specimens. Neuralink instead, it aims to restore mobility to patients with serious neurological pathologies, thanks to implantable brain chips.
Finally, X, the former Twitter that the richest man in the world wants transform it into a universal application on the model of the Chinese WeChatintegrating payments, messaging and digital services into a single platform.
Increases the level of concentration of wealth
However, Musk’s monstrous wealth highlights one of the problems that is increasingly afflicting contemporary America, namely the growing concentration of wealth.
According to the latest data published by Federal Reserve American, referring to the third quarter of 2025, the share of net wealth held by the richest 1% of the population has grown since 30.9% of the end of 2021 to 31.7% end of 2025.
It may seem like a non-catastrophic share, especially if compared to that of the beginning of the twentieth century, when estimates reconstructed a posteriori (data is missing) speak of a richer 1% that controlled over 40% of GDP; and yet this value it represents the highest point since the Federal Reserve began tracking the figure in 1989.
If we then concretely analyze what this data means, we will discover that at the end of 2025 the total assets of the richest 1%. (about 55 trillion dollars) it equaled the combined wealth of 90% of the American population.
