Elon Musk is once again the world’s richest person, thanks to his new artificial intelligence startup, xAI. The company recently announced significant milestones, propelling Musk past French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault. As of Tuesday’s market close, Musk’s net worth is estimated at $209.5 billion, surpassing Arnault’s $204.3 billion.
Musk launched xAI last July to compete with companies like OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015 before leaving three years later. He has accused ChatGPT of being “woke” and claims its pursuit of profits undermines its original mission. xAI recently released an open-source version of its Grok chatbot among its achievements.
Estimates suggest that Musk owns a 60% stake in xAI worth $14.4 billion after the latest funding round, which included investors like Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company.
Musk’s new AI company success
Musk’s fortune is largely tied to his nearly 12% stake in Tesla and an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX, each valued at around $75 billion.
Meanwhile, Musk’s 74% stake in his social media company, now rebranded from Twitter to X, is estimated to be worth roughly $7 billion, nearly 70% less than its purchase price in 2022. The value fluctuations of Tesla’s stock and the soaring shares of SpaceX have seen Musk shift in and out of the top spot among the world’s wealthiest individuals in recent years. Arnault overtook Musk in late January after a Delaware judge voided nearly $50 billion of performance-based Tesla stock options initially granted to Musk in 2018.
Tesla shareholders are set to vote on June 13 on the reapproval of Musk’s options, which have been discounted by 50% following the Delaware ruling. SpaceX reportedly plans a tender offer to value the company at around $200 billion, up from $180 billion last December. This suggests Arnault’s recent tenure as the world’s richest person may have already been on borrowed time.
Cameron is a highly regarded contributor in the rapidly evolving fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. His articles delve into the theoretical underpinnings of AI, the practical applications of machine learning across industries, ethical considerations of autonomous systems, and the societal impacts of these disruptive technologies.
