Elon Musk saw his wealth soar in 2021 with the rising price of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares and the private valuation given to SpaceX. At one point in 2021, Musk was worth as much as all the MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL teams combined.
Here’s a look at how quickly Musk could become a trillionaire and if he is on pace to be the first to hit this new status.
Who Could Be First Trillionaire?: John D. Rockefeller became the first billionaire in the world in 1916. Rockefeller was the founder of Standard Oil, an oil giant that was later split due to antitrust concerns.
Standard Oil is now represented by Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM), BP plc (NYSE: BP), Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE: MPC), which all own pieces of Rockefeller’s former company.
It took another 83 years before someone passed the $100 billion wealth mark: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates.
There are now nine centibillionaires with several of them having a shot at hitting the trillion-dollar wealth level.
With a wealth of $252 billion, Musk could be on his way to being the world’s first trillionaire.
A study from Approve.com compared the net worth of individuals along with their average annual gain in wealth to find who will join the trillionaire club first.
Musk tops the list for wealth and also is among the highest average annual gainers in wealth with an increase of 129%. These factors combined show that Musk could join the trillionaire club in two years — in 2024 — at the age of 52.
Next on the list of potential trillionaires is Gautam Adani of India. Adani and family own Adani Group, a commodity trading company that is one of the most profitable in India. The study sees Adani reaching the trillionaire status in the year 2025.
ByteDance founder and Chairman Zhang Yiming ranks third on the list. Yiming, owner of the company behind TikTok, could become a trillionaire by the year 2026.
Next on the list is Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (OTC: LVMUY). Arnault is predicted to become a trillionaire in 2029.
Jeff Bezos, who currently ranks as the second richest person in the world, isn’t predicted to hit trillionaire status until the year 2030. The Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) founder and previous richest person in the world is seeing his wealth grow at an annual rate of 24%, trailing the triple-digit gains of those predicted to hit the mark faster.
Related Link: 5 Things You Might Not Know About Elon Musk
Youngest Trillionaire?: With Musk set to join the trillionaire club at age 52, the study also sought to find if anyone is on pace to join the club quicker than the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
Yiming is seeing his wealth increase at 123% annually, just behind Musk for the lead among the top people on the list. If Yiming enters the trillionaire club in 2026 as predicted, he would be 42 years old and hit the mark 10 years younger than when Musk is expected to achieve the record.
Outside of Yiming and Musk, the next youngest on the list of expected trillionaires is Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) co-founder Larry Page.
Page is currently valued at $199 billion and 48 years of age. With an average growth rate of 27% for his wealth, Page would join the trillionaire club in 2032 at the age of 58, trailing Musk and Yiming for hitting the mark and youngest to do so.
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