Elon Musk has received $26 billion of restricted Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares. They were, the Tesla board said, a “first step, good faith” effort to keep him focused on the electric vehicle (EV) company. He has large stakes in other companies that have huge valuations. These are led by social media and artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI and rocket company SpaceX. Musk has spent a great deal of time away from Tesla doing work on reshaping the federal government. In the meantime, Tesla’s sales and earnings have suffered.
Musk’s net worth is still down $75 billion this year. That is more than any other person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He also tops the list with a net worth of $375 billion. Much of the falloff is due to the decline in Tesla’s stock value this year. The EV company has a market cap of $998 billion, which makes it the 10th most valuable company in the world. Its share price is down 23% since January 1. Before the new restricted stock award, Musk owned 13% of Tesla.
Tesla’s near-term future is up in the air. Revenue for the second quarter fell 12% to $22.5 billion. Automotive revenue declined 16% to $16.7 billion, while earnings attributable to common stockholders fell 18% to $0.33 a share.
One reason that Musk’s wealth has not fallen further is that he has convinced many on Wall Street that Tesla is becoming a robotics and AI company. The first major sign of this, Musk argues, is the new self-driving features highlighted in Tesla’s tests of the robotaxi program in Austin, Texas. It is still too early to tell how well the system works. What is not too early to know is that he has competition. The most advanced of these is Alphabet’s Waymo, which has added 10 new test cities this year.
Other Musk Holdings
Other Musk holdings have helped his overall wealth. The largest of these is the most successful rocket maker in the world. SpaceX virtually controls the U.S. rocket business and is the leader in the industry worldwide. It has established itself as the preeminent rocket launch provider, lofting satellites, cargo, and people to space for NASA, the Pentagon, and commercial partners. It is building out a large network of Starlink satellites providing internet service. Some observers believe Musk’s faltering relationship with the president could hurt him as he seeks additional business from the U.S. government. SpaceX was recently valued at $400 billion.
Musk owns 42% of SpaceX and has 79% of the company’s voting shares. He can make decisions about SpaceX without challenge.
Among Musk’s other holdings, the most valuable may eventually be xAI, a major rival to OpenAI in the race to control the future of AI. xAI continues to raise billions, which puts its value at nearly $200 billion. Musk owns over half of xAI. The valuation of OpenAI recently hit $300 billion. Musk has merged xAI with social media company X.
Musk also has stakes in several other companies, including implantable brain-computer interface operation Neuralink.
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