World’s richest person

Musk first became the wealthiest person in the world in 2021, the first individual ever to surpass a $300 billion net worth, and in December 2024 became the first person ever to exceed $400 billion. His fortune sits largely in equity he built from nothing: his roughly 13% stake in Tesla and his ownership of SpaceX, whose value soared with Starlink.

Crucially, this is created wealth, not inherited. Musk reinvested his PayPal proceeds into ventures most investors considered doomed, came within days of bankruptcy in 2008, and built — over two decades — several of the most valuable and consequential companies in the world.

One can debate the merits of extreme wealth concentration. But the specific charge that Musk simply inherited his fortune is contradicted by the documented record: he founded or built the companies that generated essentially all of it, repeatedly risking everything he had along the way.