Elon Musk Jokes He’s a “Former Trillionaire” as Tesla and SpaceX Declines Erase $750 Billion in Wealth

Elon Musk has jokingly referred to himself as a “former trillionaire,” poking fun at a dramatic decline in his estimated net worth following sharp valuation drops in both Tesla and SpaceX, a remark that has reignited broader discussion about the nature and volatility of billionaire wealth.

Musk made the comment in a post on X on July 24, writing “(Former) Trillionaire,” in an apparent reference to the extraordinary reversal in his fortune since briefly becoming the world’s first trillionaire following SpaceX’s blockbuster stock market debut in June. At its peak, Musk’s estimated net worth reached roughly $1.45 trillion, according to tracking from outlets including Forbes and Bloomberg. His fortune has since fallen to approximately $695.7 billion, according to Forbes, marking a decline of roughly $750 billion from that June peak.

The joke is notable in part because Musk has never officially sustained trillionaire status for an extended period; his brief crossing of the $1 trillion threshold came almost entirely as a result of SpaceX’s initial public offering. SpaceX shares priced at $135 in the IPO and initially surged as high as $225.64 before reversing sharply. As of late July, the stock had fallen roughly 50% from that all-time high, trading around $109 to $112. SpaceX’s decline has been driven by several factors, including two delayed Starship test launches, a $60 billion all-stock acquisition of AI coding company Cursor that diluted existing shareholders ahead of an August 6 lockup expiration, and a valuation that analysts say leaves little room for error. Starship’s 13th test flight succeeded on July 25, but the stock hit a new low regardless.

Tesla shares have also weighed heavily on Musk’s overall fortune, falling roughly 25% over the past month as of late July. The stock erased a full year of gains in a single session earlier in the summer, when shares fell 18% after Tesla reported second-quarter operating profit of $400 million, well below Wall Street’s expectations of $1.72 billion. Roughly $116 billion of the overall decline in Musk’s estimated net worth stems from a separate adjustment, after Forbes removed certain Tesla stock options from its calculation based on new vesting conditions Musk agreed to with the automaker.

Despite the scale of the paper losses, Musk remains by far the wealthiest person in the world, ranking well ahead of Google co-founders Larry Page, whose net worth is estimated at roughly $268.5 billion, and Sergey Brin, estimated at roughly $270.6 billion, as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, estimated at roughly $252.6 billion.

Musk’s comment also carried a note of irony given remarks he made just weeks earlier. Around the time of SpaceX’s IPO, Musk told XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis that “money will stop being relevant at some point in the future,” arguing that once artificial intelligence and robots begin producing more goods and services than the money supply can account for, currency will lose much of its practical purpose. Diamandis noted the irony of that statement at the time, given that Musk had just become the world’s first trillionaire.

Financial experts generally describe the kind of decline Musk has experienced as a “paper loss,” reflecting a change in the market valuation of assets rather than any actual cash leaving his accounts. Because the overwhelming majority of Musk’s wealth is tied to his ownership stakes in companies including Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and X, rather than cash or other liquid holdings, his estimated net worth can swing by tens of billions of dollars in a single trading session without him selling a single share. When Tesla or SpaceX shares fall, his estimated wealth falls in proportion; when the shares recover, the estimated wealth reappears in the same way. Unless the underlying shares are actually sold, any gains or losses remain unrealized on paper.

Dramatic swings in Musk’s fortune are not unprecedented. His net worth jumped by more than $60 billion in a single day on June 29, and he added another roughly $30 billion on Oct. 24 after Tesla reported stronger-than-expected results, illustrating how quickly his estimated wealth can move in either direction depending on market sentiment toward his companies.

Despite the recent decline, SpaceX remains widely viewed by analysts as one of the strongest assets in Musk’s business portfolio. The company continues to dominate the commercial rocket launch market, operates the rapidly expanding Starlink satellite internet network, and holds major contracts with NASA and the U.S. government. Even so, some Wall Street analysts have expressed caution about the company’s near-term trajectory. Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in late July that if SpaceX shares fell below $100, it would imply that investors see no meaningful value in the company’s artificial intelligence-related business, with some analysts already assigning “zero or negative value” to that segment given the company’s accelerating spending on space and connectivity infrastructure and what the analysts described as largely uncertain economics.

Musk’s overall fortune has continued to reflect the broader volatility characteristic of modern billionaire wealth built primarily on technology company valuations rather than traditional industrial or cash-based assets. A single earnings report, product announcement or shift in investor sentiment can add or erase tens of billions of dollars from his estimated net worth within days, a dynamic that has repeated throughout 2025 and 2026 as Tesla and SpaceX shares have moved through several distinct cycles of sharp gains followed by steep pullbacks.