Elon Musk has been approved for a potential deal worth $1 trillion by Tesla, positioning him as the first individual in history who could become a trillionaire.
In 1916, John D Rockefeller made history as the world’s first billionaire. Since that time, the number of billionaires worldwide has soared, reaching 3,028 by 2025.
Collectively, these billionaires command a staggering net worth of $16.1 trillion, a sum larger than the GDP of every country except for the USA and China. This wealth also surpasses the combined GDPs of Germany, Japan, India, and the UK, which hold the third to sixth largest economies globally.
It’s remarkable that Musk, with his current net worth of $482.2 billion, is set to benefit from a compensation plan valued at one trillion dollars.
To appreciate the magnitude of these numbers, consider that a million seconds equates to about 11.5 days, whereas a billion seconds extends to 31.7 years. In contrast, a trillion seconds spans 31,709 years.
Spending a million dollars daily from a trillion-dollar fortune would take 2,739 years to exhaust. For context, an average US citizen, whose lifetime earnings are approximately $1.7 million, would require 588,235 lifetimes to accumulate $1 trillion.
Writing out one trillion numerically, it’s represented as 1,000,000,000,000, essentially a million times a million.
If Elon Musk’s expanded net worth, post the $1 trillion inclusion, were distributed evenly among every person on Earth, each individual would receive approximately $180.06.
Within the United States, Musk’s adopted country with a population nearing 348 million, this distribution would grant each person nearly $4.26 million, effectively turning the nation into one of multi-millionaires.
Currently, Musk does not possess the trillion dollars. Tesla shareholders have approved a compensation plan that grants him the potential for $1 trillion, contingent upon meeting specific expectations, such as increasing Tesla’s value from $1.4 trillion to $8.5 trillion.
Musk’s public persona, particularly his interactions with figures like President Donald Trump and his endorsement of far-right political groups, has sometimes negatively impacted Tesla’s image.
Thus, while the compensation agreement is in place, there remains a significant journey ahead.