Elon Musk has already added about $24 billion to his fortune in 2026, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after posting an unmatched $187 billion gain last year. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been one of the biggest winners of the AI-driven wealth surge, joining other tech leaders whose net worths have soared in recent years.
Charlie Munger once said the hardest part of getting rich is reaching the first $100,000 — but Musk now sits at the opposite extreme, where even swings of tens of billions barely register. After just two trading days this year, his net worth climbed roughly 4% to about $644 billion, keeping him far ahead of every other billionaire, with more than double the wealth of Alphabet cofounder Larry Page in second place.
Musk also topped last year’s wealth-gainer list and is leading again in 2026, with Interactive Brokers founder Thomas Peterffy a distant second after adding around $8 billion. What’s driving Musk’s latest jump isn’t entirely clear: Tesla shares are up only about 0.4%, adding less than $2 billion to his stake, while SpaceX’s $800 billion valuation boost was already reflected in last year’s numbers. No major valuation changes have been announced for xAI, Neuralink, or The Boring Company.
That points to Bloomberg adjusting its calculations — a shift that would be significant for most billionaires, but barely a ripple for Musk. As investors continue betting heavily on AI, tech founders like Musk remain the biggest beneficiaries. Meanwhile, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have each added more than $2 billion this year, building on massive gains of $101 billion and $92 billion respectively in 2025, still trailing only Musk in overall wealth growth.