Check out more newsletters Musk’s net worth now exceeds the valuations of top companies like Oracle, Mastercard and Johnson & Johnson, which all rank among the 20 most valuable American companies. It’s a stark turnaround from earlier this year, when shares in Tesla roughly halved from mid-January to mid-March as investors panicked over Musk’s White House role. The South African-born billionaire faced heated backlash after he led the Department of Government Efficiency – a cost-cutting committee that slashed foreign humanitarian aid and laid off tens of thousands of federal employees. The rocket-launch firm is reportedly aiming for an initial public offering in the second half of 2026, according to the Information. Jennifer Briggs/ZUMA / SplashNews.com Shares in Tesla also faltered as investors grew concerned that the automaker was not delivering driverless robotaxis and autonomous robots as quickly as expected. The stock decline caused Musk in September to briefly lose the top spot as the world’s richest person to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Across the board, AI stocks slipped as some top executives warned that companies might be overspending on the new tech and creating a “bubble” – but the AI rally has since returned. Now Musk even appears poised to become the world’s first trillionaire after Tesla shareholders last month approved his jaw-dropping $1 trillion pay package. Musk will have to check off a series of lofty performance goals over the next decade to earn the full package, like hitting a $2 trillion valuation, churning out 20 million vehicles and delivering 1 million Optimus humanoid robots. Filed under