In 2026, Elon Musk became the only US-dollar trillionaire in history upon the initial public offering of his company SpaceX.
A trillionaire is a person whose net worth is at least one trillion units of a given currency, typically the US dollar due to its status as a world currency. The only person to reach trillionaire status in terms of US dollars is Elon Musk, who first reached trillionaire status upon the initial public offering of his companySpaceX in 2026. Musk's net worth is highly concentrated in SpaceX, and SpaceX debuted at a record valuation of nearly US$2 trillion. Since then, SpaceX's volatile stock price has primarily influenced Musk's net worth, with its fluctuations causing him to lose and reclaim trillionaire status several times. Several other currencies have had their own trillionaires, sometimes owing to hyperinflation.
Etymology
The earliest evidence of the word trillionaire, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is from a letter to the editor published in an 1861 issue of the Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser.
In US dollars
US distribution of household wealth for the first quarter of 2024. Federal Reserve data.
Predictions for the first trillionaire
In 1999, Evan L. Marcus of Wired provided four scenarios in which Microsoft founder Bill Gates becomes not only the first trillionaire in US dollars, but also the first quadrillionaire (having a net worth of one thousand trillions or one quadrillion). In 2005, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson also said that Gates would become the first trillionaire. In 2017, a report from international charity Oxfam predicted that the first trillionaire would emerge within 25 years, pointing to increasing global wealth inequality and individuals such as Gates.
In 2008, Peter Diamandis, founder of the Xprize foundation, predicted that the first trillionaire would be made in the space industry by asteroid mining. In 2015, Tyson predicted the same, as did US senator Ted Cruz in 2018. Musk said in 2003 that asteroid mining was "bogus", and has not publicly updated that view since then, and in 2018 Andrew Glester of Physics World questioned the feasibility of precious metal extraction as well as of the effect on prices that a sudden influx of a supply of precious metals might have.
On June 12, 2026, with the initial public offering of Musk's company SpaceX at a record valuation of nearly US$1.8 trillion, he became the only person whose net worth has exceeded $1 trillion. His ownership of 42% of SpaceX shares, combined with his multi-billion-dollar holdings in Tesla, Inc. and other companies, brought him over the threshold upon the IPO. His net worth reached an intraday peak of $1.45 trillion in the week after the IPO, but by late July 2026, a SpaceX stock collapse had reduced his net worth by $750 billion, the largest loss in history. By early October 2026, SpaceX stocks had rebounded sufficiently to restore Musk's trillionaire status.
Net worth and 1-year growth of each of the top 16 US billionaires, and all US billionaires as a whole, as of June 16, 2026
Musk's status as the first US dollar trillionaire drew historical comparisons, acclaim, and criticism. The New York Times drew the connection between Musk and John D. Rockefeller, who became the first US dollar billionaire in 1916. Rockefeller's wealth was estimated at $900million in 1913, which was 2.3% of the US gross domestic product (GDP); when Musk's wealth was $970 billion on June 11, 2026 due to the pricing of SpaceX at $135 per share, it was 3% of the US GDP. When Musk became a trillionaire, he was nearly four times as wealthy as the second richest person, Larry Page. Left leaning American political figures such as Elizabeth Warren and Zohran Mamdani used the milestone to call for the implementation of a wealth tax.
The emergence of a trillionaire has prompted criticism from groups concerned with global wealth inequality. In June 2026, Oxfam said that a $1 trillion fortune would make Musk wealthier than the combined net worth of the poorest 46% of the world's population, or 3.8 billion people. Oxfam described the milestone as an example of extreme wealth concentration and called for higher taxation of ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Economist Gabriel Zucman argued that extreme wealth will always lead to extreme power and threatens the very possibility of democracy.
The net worth of people outside the US is often calculated in their respective currencies, creating dong trillionaires, ruble trillionaires, peso trillionaires, yen trillionaires, and others.
↑Jones, Frederick Robert (November 30, 1861). "The pinch of Sir John Ramsden's position with tenant-right". Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser– via British Newspaper Archive. And thus Sir John sees clearly that to whip the poor wretches now will be, as a first "benefit," to enable him to exact higher ground-rents for 99 years; and, as a second "benefit," to render his fortunate successor a trillionaire!
↑Gordon, John Steele (November 12, 1999). "The Rich Were Different". www.forbes.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2026. John D. Rockefeller's $900 million in 1913 represented one forty-fourth [2.3%] of the GNP of that year.
↑"日本長者番付 日本で最もリッチな人物は誰だ？". 日本長者番付 by Forbes JAPAN（フォーブス ジャパン） (in Japanese). Retrieved July 2, 2026.
Bibliography
García, Emilio José; Vale, Brenda (2025). "Wealth and the Rich". Wealth and the Built Environment. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. pp.15–37. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-81954-4_2. ISBN978-3-031-81953-7. Retrieved June 14, 2026. If Elon Musk, the richest person in the 2022 Forbes list of billionaires, had kept growing his fortune at the current rate of 129% per year, he could have been the first trillionaire in 2024 ... Batchelor (2022) notes that by 2033, there could be about ten trillionaires, mostly males from the technology industries.
Tyson, Neil deGrasse (2005). "Powers of ten". In Blackwell, Alan; MacKay, David (eds.). Power. Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-1-139-44559-7. In fact, Bill Gates will become the world's first trillionaire. Even if he sold all his Microsoft stock and bought conservative savings bonds, he would still be a trillionaire before he dies.
Look up trillionaire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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