Elon Musk has lost his trillionaire status, less than two weeks after becoming the first person to reach it following SpaceX’s public debut, Bloomberg data showed.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, updated daily at 17:30 in New York (22:30 BST), valued Musk’s fortune at $957bn (£727bn) Tuesday, down from $1.11tn less than 14 days earlier.
The reversal followed a sharp retreat in SpaceX and Tesla shares as technology stocks broadly tumbled, driven by doubts over the long‑term profitability of artificial intelligence, BBC reports.
Despite the loss, Musk remains the world’s richest person, with wealth far exceeding his nearest rivals. Musk originally made history on 12 June with SpaceX’s highly anticipated Nasdaq debut.
The IPO was priced at $135 per share, opened at $150, and valued the rocket and satellite giant at more than $1.77tn. Musk’s 42 per cent stake instantly propelled his paper fortune past $1tn.
By 16 June, surging investor enthusiasm pushed SpaceX shares to $225.64, lifting Musk’s net worth to $1.32tn. But the rally quickly faded. Concerns over capital spending, AI infrastructure costs and stubborn interest rates triggered a broad tech sell‑off, hitting giants such as Nvidia, Intel and AMD.
SpaceX shares bore the brunt, plunging more than 30 per cent from their mid‑June peak to around $156. On 22 June alone, a 16 per cent drop erased an estimated $240bn from Musk’s balance sheet. Tesla shares fell nearly 6 per cent the next day, compounding losses. Musk owns about 12 per cent of Tesla’s outstanding stock.
His trillionaire status remains uniquely vulnerable due to the concentration of his wealth. Nearly 80 per cent of his fortune is tied to SpaceX, with most of the rest in Tesla. Analysts note post‑IPO volatility is common, though the scale reflects tension between hype and reality.
“For a stock like SpaceX, a lot of decision making might have been emotional and based on anticipation of huge leaps forward in space exploration and utilisation, but investing should be treated with clear eyes and patience, even when such huge numbers are involved,” said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
With restrictions lifting in late July allowing insiders to sell shares in stages, pressure may continue. Yet a modest 6% recovery in SpaceX stock would restore Musk’s 13‑figure fortune, potentially making him the world’s first recurring trillionaire.
