Wealth halved as SpaceX and Tesla fall... Musk "I am a former 'trillionaire'

With SpaceX and Tesla shares both weakening, Elon Musk's fortune has fallen to about half in a little over a month.

According to Forbes on the 27th (local time), as of that morning Musk's wealth was tallied at $695.7 billion (about 1,019 trillion won). Although the stock surged after SpaceX went public, the figure is less than half of the $1.45 trillion recorded on the 16th of last month. It is the first time in about seven months, since December last year, that Musk's wealth has fallen below $700 billion.

Musk, who at one point became the first person in history to surpass $1 trillion in wealth, recently referred to himself on X as "a 'former' trillionaire".

The decline in SpaceX's stock price had the greatest impact on the reduction in his wealth. According to MarketWatch, SpaceX shares fell to as low as $108.66 intraday, down 4% from the previous session, marking an all-time low. That is about 20% below the $135 IPO price and 52% below the peak of last month at $225.64.

Investor sentiment was dampened after the booster, during the 13th Starship test flight conducted on the 24th, struggled to reignite its engines and then crashed into the sea. The first earnings announcement since the listing, scheduled for the 4th of next month, and the expiration of the insider lock-up on the 6th are also cited as factors increasing share-price volatility.

Although SpaceX has presented large-scale business plans such as a Mars colony and space data centers, concerns also stem from the fact that its currently stable revenues are concentrated in the Starlink satellite communications service.

Tesla shares also plunged after its earnings release. After disclosing second-quarter results on the 23rd, the stock fell 15%, and that morning it dropped to $307.92. The year-to-date decline is 30%, giving back most of the gains over the past year.

Although second-quarter vehicle sales increased, net profit fell 5% from a year earlier to $1.114 billion due to price cuts and higher operating expenses. Deutsche Bank lowered Tesla's target price from $465 to $420 that day.