Elon Musk reveals why he isn't a trillionaire yet
Elon Musk just shared that less than 0.1% of his massive net worth is actually in cash—so, under $850 million.
Most of his money is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX shares, not sitting in a bank account.
He opened up about this on X after people started predicting he could become the world's first trillionaire as soon as 2026.
Breakdown of Musk's net worth
Musk's estimated $849 billion net worth comes mainly from owning 43% of the combined SpaceX and xAI entity (worth over $530 billion) and 12% of Tesla (about $178 billion).
He also has stock options and a possible $1 trillion pay package if Tesla grows big enough in the next decade.
So, while the numbers sound wild, almost all his wealth is locked into company shares—not cash he can spend.
Musk's response to trillionaire predictions
The talk started after prediction platform Kalshi gave him a 75% shot at becoming a trillionaire by 2026—a number that jumped to 78% for 2027 after SpaceX merged with xAI.
Musk reminded everyone he said in 2019, "Some people think I have a lot of cash," followed by "I actually don't," showing that being rich on paper doesn't mean having piles of cash handy.