When it comes to the richest people on Earth, it’s hard to put into context just how rich they are.

Up there with the Zuckerbergs, Bezoses, and Ellisons of the world, Elon Musk is far and away the richest man on the planet.

The tech entrepreneur might have made a dud investment in Twitter/X, but his other ventures continue to soar.

Despite fluctuating wealth, Elon Musk is well on the way to becoming the world’s first trillionaire thanks to a particularly healthy 2024.

Mr. Musk has just crossed another milestone, being the first person ever to boast a net worth of $400 billion.

According to a December 11 article from Bloomberg, Musk has hit the elusive $400 billion mark.

His $20 billion jump that put him over the line can be attributed to SpaceX investors agreeing to purchase $1.25 billion of insider shares.

With the spacefaring company now valued at $350 billion, it’s the extra boost that Musk needed.

Musk has been on an upward trajectory after Donald Trump’s American election win.

Although the world’s richest saw a massive boost to their net worths, Musk has been enjoying the biggest.

It’s no coincidence that he finds himself part of Trump’s inner circle and co-head of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

As well as this, Musk’s interests in Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, the Boring Company, and more have seen him placed perfectly for this tech boom.

Similar to Musk’s new milestone, Tesla shares have hit their own record high. Having soared by around 71% in 2024, shares in the car manufacturer climbed to $424.77 on December 11. This is a healthy increase from the pandemic peak of $409.97 on November 4, 2021.

With Musk already having $400 billion, there are questions about how much longer it’ll be until he smashes past $500 billion.

To put it into context of how rich Musk is, he could give everyone on Earth $48 billion and he’d still have $6.4 billion in the bank for himself.

That would obviously never happen, but even if he gave everyone estimated to be on the planet right now $1 billion, he’d still have $391.8 billion.

Assuming he stays on track to becoming a trillionaire in 2027, Musk could use $1 trillion to give half of the USA health insurance for a whole year, end homelessness in the country, or simply buy 12 million Cybertrucks.

Although the numbers are constantly going up and down, Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index actually lists Musk’s current net worth at $447 billion. As Jeff Bezos is currently in second place with $249 billion, it looks like Musk is sitting pretty comfortably on his mountains of money.

Elon Musk is on course to become the first person to reach a net worth a trillion dollars.

He is already reportedly the richest person on Earth as the tech mogul heads up the likes of Tesla and SpaceX.

It is estimated that Musk will make history as the first ever trillionaire by 2027 and, while he currently has his sights set on forming a human colony on Mars, what other things could Musk buy with his vast wealth?

As a trillionaire, he certainly wouldn’t need to do his shopping in the sale sections.

So here are some things that the entrepreneur could afford.

Over 12 million Cybertrucks

The price of the 2025 Tesla Cybertruck starts at $82,235 so if he wanted to, Musk could afford to purchase 12,160,272 of the electric vehicles.

Wipe student debt

As of June 2024, the total amount that people owe in student debt in the US has reached up to $1.6 trillion.

And okay, Musk might be a little bit shy of that number but as a trillionaire, he’d be able to make a huge dent in the cost owed, almost wiping out the debt owed by students across the country.

Health insurance for half of the country

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average annual cost of health insurance in the US is $7,739 for an individual and $22,221 for a family as of 2021.

The population of the country in that year was around 332 million, meaning that with his trillion dollars, Musk could technically fund the cost of half of the population to receive health insurance for a year.

Elon Musk is the richest person in the world (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images)

Put a stop to world hunger

World hunger is something that Musk could make a significant contribution to ending if he spent his trillion on the cause.

On the Oxfam America website, it reads: “Current estimates suggest that as of this year, we need donor governments to invest around $37 billion every year until 2030 to tackle both extreme and chronic hunger.

“Let’s start with extreme hunger. We need about $23 billion just this year to meet the needs of people facing starvation and acute malnutrition.”

End Homelessness in the US

In a report by Scioto Analysis, it was estimated that in order to completely eradicate homelessness in America, it would take a budget of somewhere between $11 billion to $30 billion a year.

With a wealth of a trillion dollars, this means that Musk would have the ability to house every person in the country for up to 90 years.

Two of the world’s richest people could see themselves richer after a recent discovery in California.

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have a combined net worth of $549 billion and so, are probably the last people that would need more cash.

A massive deposit of lithium, often called ‘white gold’ has been found beneath the Salton Sea and both multibillionaires could benefit from it.

While the mine has been known about for some time, how much it’s worth has only just been shared.

Turns out, the quantity of lithium in what has been dubbed ‘the Saudi Arabia of lithium mining’, could be worth up to a whopping $540 billion.

Essentially, this would be enough to power batteries for more than 382 million electric vehicles (EVs), which could entirely transform the global economy.

“There’s potentially enough lithium down there to supply batteries for 382 million electric vehicles, which is more, more vehicles than there are on the road in the United States today,” said Sammy Roth, climate columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

“So, if we could get all that lithium, that’d be huge.”

So how does this relate to the tech moguls?

Well, both Musk and Bezos have a stake in the electric vehicle market. Musk founded Tesla in 2003, while Bezos is a major investor in Rivian, another electric car company.

Most EVs use lithium batteries, and until now, much of the world’s lithium has come from overseas sources like Australia, China, Chile, and Argentina, according to Visual Capitalist.

So, this deposit could see major cost savings by sourcing it domestically instead of importing it from other countries.

Tesla already operates massive U.S. factories, including its Gigafactory in Nevada. Whilst Reuters confirmed that Rivian has plans to open a new plant in Georgia by 2028 after receiving a conditional loan of $6.6 billion.

Currently, Tesla sources some of its lithium from China, while Rivian has reportedly signed a five-year deal with South Korea’s LG Energy Solution.

The SpaceX founder has shown great interest and investment in Brazil. In 2022, Musk visited the country to implement the Starlink internet network with an extra focus on Brazilian lithium.

This investment in Brazil, specifically in the lithium-rich state of Minas Gerais, presents a major opportunity for the mining industry to meet the rising global demand for lithium.

So having such a valuable mine domestically available in Riverside, California could change the entire game for the world-famous innovators.

With him set to become the world’s first official trillionaire, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has a pretty healthy bank balance to say the least.

With Elon Musk seeing even more digits added to his bank balance in the aftermath of the 2024 American election, his net worth is on the up.

Still, even the world’s richest man is far from the richest man who’s ever existed.

According to Money.com, that honor goes to Mansa Musa. With a fortune sitting at $400 billion, Mansa Musa is thought to be far and away the richest person that has ever lived.

Known as the tenth Mansa (conqueror) of the Mali Empire, Mansa Musa reigned from 1312 to 1337 and owes his immense fortune to his hordes of gold and legacy as the ‘King of Timbuktu.’ During the height of his power, the Malian Empire was the largest producer of gold in the world – at a time when it was most in demand.

According to Rudolph Ware, an associate professor of history at the University of Michigan, Musa was so rich, that people couldn’t even explain how rich he was. Ware says: “This is the richest guy anyone has ever seen, that’s the point. They’re trying to find words to explain that.

“There are pictures of him holding a scepter of gold on a throne of gold holding a cup of gold with a golden crown on his head. Imagine as much gold as you think a human being could possess and double it, that’s what all the accounts are trying to communicate.”

While Elon Musk is undoubtedly rich and has spent a huge sum on a compound to house his children, that’s nothing compared to stories about Mansa Musa’s wealth.

There’s the famous tale of his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, with reports of up to 200,000 men, with 12,000 slaves each carrying four pounds of gold bars.

Musa’s spending was reportedly so lavish, it caused a currency crisis in Egypt. Beat that, Elon.

At the time of writing, Elon Musk’s current net worth is $334.1 billion, which is a massive $70 billion leap since the election.

To put it into context, it’s overtaken Musk’s previous high of $320.3 billion from November 2021. Back then, Tesla saw a surge in the midst of the pandemic.

It comes after a rocky year for the billionaire, with Musk wiping $15 billion off his net worth due to a botched Tesla showcase. It’s not taken him long to get back on top, and considering he was only worth $27 billion at the start of 2020, he could soon overtake Mansa Musa’s all-time worth. After all, what’s $70 billion between friends?