Elon Musk has moved closer to a milestone no individual has reached before. Forbes’ real-time tracker listed his net worth at about $849.3 billion on February 17, 2026, driven mainly by his equity stakes rather than cash holdings.
That level of wealth has revived debate about whether Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire. The answer depends on how markets value his biggest assets, including Tesla and SpaceX, plus the outcome of a major corporate combination involving his AI business.
Forbes’ real-time list shows Musk far ahead of other top names in global wealth. The same ranking places Larry Page at about $251 billion, Sergey Brin at about $231 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg at about $219 billion.
Elon Musk has also addressed the “paper wealth” issue directly in recent remarks. He has said his net worth mostly reflects ownership stakes, not cash. That distinction matters because daily price swings and private valuations can move his headline figure quickly.
xAI has become a central driver of the trillionaire narrative because of its tie-up with SpaceX. Reuters reported that SpaceX acquired xAI in a record-sized transaction, valuing SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion.
Reuters also reported expectations around a potential SpaceX public offering that could value the combined business above current private marks. Investors and analysts often treat an IPO as a “price discovery” moment, which can reset valuations upward or downward. That path, not just Tesla’s share price, could decide whether Musk reaches $1 trillion.
Prediction markets have started pricing that possibility more aggressively. Kalshi’s contract rules state it resolves based on whether Forbes shows Musk above $1 trillion before a set date, and recent trading has implied high odds of him crossing the threshold within the next few years.
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Regulators have also increased scrutiny of Grok, xAI’s chatbot, after users generated sexualised and non-consensual deepfake imagery. In Europe, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission opened a formal investigation into Grok and potential GDPR issues.
Authorities in the United States have also taken action. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an investigation into the proliferation of non-consensual sexually explicit material produced using Grok. Reuters separately reported that California’s office pressed xAI over ongoing deepfake generation.
These probes do not automatically change Elon Musk’s net worth. However, they can affect valuations by raising legal costs, tightening product constraints, or changing investor assumptions. For Musk, the trillionaire question still comes down to sustained market confidence in Tesla and the newly combined SpaceX–xAI group, plus how any IPO prices the business.