Elon Musk’s wealth has climbed toward $800 billion after a fresh funding round.
The deal sharply revalued his artificial intelligence and social media venture, xAI Holdings.
This is according to reports by Forbes, which tracks the net worth of billionaires. Private investors recently valued the company at $250 billion.
That figure is more than double its valuation from less than a year ago. The jump has pushed Musk’s estimated net worth to about $780 billion.
What the new round entails for billionaires
The funding round, confirmed by Forbes, raised roughly $20 billion and significantly increased the value of Musk’s stake in the company.
He owns about 49 per cent of xAI Holdings, a position now estimated to be worth $122 billion, an increase of roughly $62 billion.
The jump followed last year’s merger of xAI, Mr. Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, with X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired in 2022.
The new valuation has also lifted the fortunes of several high-profile investors. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, an early Twitter backer, is estimated to hold a 1.6 per cent stake in xAI Holdings worth about $4 billion, raising his personal fortune to roughly $19.4 billion.
Jack Dorsey, a Twitter co-founder, and Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, each hold stakes of about 0.8 percent, valued at approximately $2.1 billion apiece. Mr. Ellison’s net worth now stands near $241 billion, while Mr. Dorsey’s is estimated at about $6 billion.
The rapid rise in valuation comes amid heavy spending by xAI as competition intensifies across the artificial intelligence sector.
Internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg show that the company burned through nearly $7.8 billion in cash during the first nine months of 2024.
Its flagship product, the Grok chatbot, has also drawn scrutiny in recent weeks, including criticism over its generation of fabricated images and a lawsuit filed by Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Musk’s children.
His wealth has risen repeatedly over the past year, driven by gains across his sprawling business empire.
In October, he became the first individual to be worth $500 billion after Tesla’s share price rose sharply following his decision to reduce his role in the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
By mid-December, his net worth 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 fortune beyond $700 billion.
SpaceX remains Mr. Musk’s most valuable asset. His roughly 42 per cent stake in the rocket company is now estimated at $336 billion.
Tesla, where he holds both common shares and stock options, ranks second, with his combined holdings valued at about $307 billion.
A recently approved compensation package at Tesla tied to ambitious performance targets could eventually add far more to that total, though it is not included in current estimates.
The gap between Musk and the rest of the world’s richest 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.
