Tesla CEO Elon Musk became the first person to cross the $700 billion mark in net worth on Friday, after the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Tesla stock options worth $139 billion that had been voided last year, according to Forbes’ Billionaires Index.
Musk’s net worth surged to about $749 billion late Friday following the ruling, which restored his 2018 pay package, once valued at $56 billion, two years after a lower court struck it down as “unfathomable.” The Supreme Court said a 2024 decision rescinding the compensation deal had been improper and inequitable to Musk.
Earlier this week, Musk became the first person ever to surpass $600 billion in net worth amid reports that his aerospace startup SpaceX was likely to go public.
In November, Tesla shareholders separately approved a $1 trillion pay plan for Musk - the largest corporate pay package in history - backing his vision of transforming the electric-vehicle maker into an artificial intelligence and robotics powerhouse.
Musk’s fortune now exceeds that of Larry Page, the world’s second-richest person, by nearly $500 billion, according to Forbes.