Elon Musk more than doubled his fortune over the past 12 months to rank No. 1 on the annual Forbes 400 list of America’s richest people for the fifth straight year, worth an estimated $908 billion. But the ride was anything but smooth for the SpaceX and Tesla chief, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire (and saw his fortune top out at $1.3 trillion) after his rocketmaker went public in June.
SpaceX’s shares have since come back to earth after soaring into orbit post-IPO, falling 34% from their peak to close trading for The Forbes 400 just 10% above their initial offering price, implying a market cap of nearly $2 trillion. But that was still enough to help Musk, who owns 38% of the company (including stock options), gain a record $480 billion over the past year— smashing the record $184 billion gain he posted for the 2025 Forbes 400, when he was worth $428 billion.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdurot/2026/09/16/hes-no-longer-a-trillionaire-but-heres-why-elon-musk-remains-americas-richest-person-by-far/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
