Elon Musk’s net worth falls below US$400 billion for first time in 2025
Tesla shares and options make up more than 60 per cent of Musk’s wealth
ELON Musk’s net worth fell below US$400 billion for the first time in two months, dragged down by a double-digit slide in Tesla’s share price.
The automaker’s stock has fallen 27 per cent after hitting an all-time high in mid-December on hopes that Musk’s proximity to US President Donald Trump would boost the company’s fortunes.
Tesla shares and options make up more than 60 per cent of Musk’s wealth, which peaked at US$486.4 billion on Dec 17 in the wake of Trump’s election, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Last week was Tesla’s worst since early October, with shares falling 11 per cent after reporting dismal monthly sales. Deliveries in Germany tumbled 59 per cent to the lowest levels since 2021, while China sales fell 11.5 per cent from a year earlier amid competition from regional rival BYD.
The shares dropped on Monday (Feb 10) for the fourth straight day in New York trading, sliding 3 per cent to US$350.73.
Musk’s political reinvention was a key driver for Tesla stock post-election, and the 53-year-old billionaire has devoted the majority of his attention to Washington since inauguration day.
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He’s marshalled the Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-cutting efforts in the three weeks since Trump took office, gutting Usaid, scrutinising the Treasury Department’s internal payments data and leading a campaign to reduce the federal workforce by offering workers eight months of pay in exchange for their resignations.
‘True value’
So far, though, investors’ hopes that the Trump administration could boost Tesla with changes to electric vehicle tax subsidies and formalised standards for self-driving technology have not materialised.
Musk has referred to full self-driving autonomy “as the true value” of Tesla, Robert W Baird analysts Ben Kallo and Davis Sunderland wrote in a Feb 4 note, adding they are now “more tepid” on the robotaxi business after the carmaker removed volume guidance when reporting fourth-quarter earnings.
While Musk’s Tesla stake still makes up the largest portion of his US$394.6 billion net worth, its recent decline – paired with record funding rounds for Musk’s other companies, including xAI and SpaceX – means that the carmaker is contributing a relatively smaller share to his fortune.
Musk’s 42 per cent stake in SpaceX is currently worth US$136 billion, or roughly the same amount as the value of his shares at market close.
He’s also leading a consortium of investors making an unsolicited bid to buy OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, for almost US$95 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff.
OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman rejected the offer in a post on Musk’s X social-media platform. BLOOMBERG
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