TMTPOST -- Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, boasts record high wealth as shares of Musk-led electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Inc. Surged and his artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI secured new funding that boosted its valuation.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Musk’s wealth reached $384 billion, shattering the previous reord of $340.4 billion set in November 2021, according to the Bloomberg Billioinarires Index. Musk’s net worth was a record of $321.7 billioin as of market close Friday, gaining $7 billion from Tesla shares rally that day, according to Forbes’ calculations.
Most of Musk’s fortune is wrapped up in his holdings of Tesla. The billionaire owns 411.06 million Tesla shares, as of the latest filings, and about 304 million performance-based options. Tesla stock and options account for about three-quarters of his personal wealth, and he also holds large stakes in SpaceX, social media platform X and AI startup xAI.
Tesla stocks finished 3.8% higher to $352.56, their highest close since April 2022. Stocks have surged around 40% since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election more than two weeks ago. Musk’s wealth has increased 35% since the day before the election, according to Bloomberg.
Musk has committed more than $75 million to his American PAC last month to help Trump and other Republicans win. His total known political spend this year is at over $132 million, Yahoo Finance reported in late October. That’s one of the largest sums dedicated to a political candidate and a party. Musk also offered to give away $1 million a day to voters in swing states for signing his PAC’s petition backing the Constitution. The controversial giveaway has been sued by the Philadelphia district attorney ahead of the election.
Trump’s victory suggests Musk’s big bet began to pay off. Investors speculate that Musk and his companies including Tesla will benefit from Trump’s return to the White House. While Trump is likely to reduce or eliminate subsidies for alternative energy and EVs, namely, EV purchase tax credits—a headwind for all EV makers, such move would do the most harm to smaller competitors. Moreover, Trump’s plans for hefty tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a research note Wednesday that a victory for Trump could harm the EV industry as a whole, but boost Tesla shares by $40 to $50. “Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Ives. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Like Tesla, xAI, which Musk launched in July 2023 as a competitor to OpenAI, also saw valuation gain since Trump claimed presidency. xAI, has told investors it raised $5 billion in a funding round valuing it at $50 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. It is reported Qatar’s sovereign-wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority, and investment firms Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are expected to participate in the round. The new reported funding brought the total amout xAI has raise to $11 billion this year.
If the reported $50 billion is accurate, that is more than twice what xAI was valued in May. XAI announced on May 26 its Series B funding round of $6 billion backed by key investors like Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding. The startup’s value was raised to $24 billion after that funding round since its pre-mony valuation was $18 billion, according to a Musk’s post on X.
