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By Uche Usim
Elon Musk’s fortune is soaring towards $800 billion following a fresh funding round that sharply revalued his artificial intelligence and social media venture, xAI Holdings. According to Forbes, which tracks the net worth of billionaires, private investors recently valued the company at $250 billion, more than double its worth from less than a year ago. The spike in valuation has pushed Musk’s estimated net worth to roughly $780 billion.
The latest funding round, confirmed by Forbes, raised about $20 billion and significantly boosted the value of Musk’s 49 percent stake in the company, now estimated at $122 billion, an increase of roughly $62 billion. The jump follows last year’s merger of xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, with X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired in 2022.
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The valuation surge has also lifted the fortunes of other high-profile investors. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, an early backer of Twitter, is estimated to hold a 1.6 percent stake in xAI Holdings worth about $4 billion, bringing his personal fortune to around $19.4 billion. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, and Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, each hold roughly 0.8 percent of the company, valued at approximately $2.1 billion apiece. Ellison’s net worth now stands near $241 billion, while Dorsey’s is estimated at $6 billion. The rapid increase in valuation comes as xAI continues heavy spending amid intensifying competition in the artificial intelligence sector. Internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg indicate that the company spent nearly $7.8 billion in cash during the first nine months of 2024. Its flagship product, the Grok chatbot, has faced recent scrutiny, including criticism over the generation of fabricated images and a lawsuit filed by Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Musk’s children.
Musk’s wealth has grown repeatedly over the past year, driven by gains across his diverse business empire. In October, he became the first individual to reach a net worth of $500 billion after Tesla shares rose sharply following his decision to reduce involvement in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. By mid-December, his fortune crossed $600 billion after private investors valued SpaceX at $800 billion. Days later, a court ruling restoring a massive Tesla stock option award pushed his wealth beyond $700 billion.
SpaceX remains Musk’s most valuable asset, with his roughly 42 percent stake now estimated at $336 billion. Tesla ranks second, with his combined holdings of common shares and stock options valued at about $307 billion. A recently approved compensation package at Tesla, tied to ambitious performance targets, could add substantially to that total in the future, though it is not included in current estimates. The gap between Musk and the rest of the world’s wealthiest individuals has widened dramatically. He is now estimated to be more than $500 billion wealthier than Larry Page, the Google co-founder who ranks second globally with a fortune of about $270 billion. Musk’s latest gains underscore his continued dominance at the top of global wealth rankings and the explosive growth of his business ventures in both artificial intelligence and space technology.
