Being a millionaire isn't the flex it once was — although most of us would be perfectly happy to find out for ourselves — but being a billionaire is indeed quite a flex. But what about being a trillionaire?
Right now, despite the wealth held by the world's various billionaires, there isn't one person who's cracked the one trillion mark. But that will likely happen sooner than you might think.
The Tesla founder and real-life Tony Stark figure is currently worth a comfortable twelve figures, with a net worth hovering around $200 billion, making him currently the world's richest person by a comfortable margin, per Investopedia.
It's a fivefold increase and would require about $800 billion to be added to Musk's net worth. But judging by recent trends, he should be able to make this money relatively quickly.
While Tesla is a valuable company, Musk's real moneymaker is in his private spaceflight company, SpaceX. A study from Approve, which tracks the race to $1 trillion, notes that Musk's income has shown an annual average increase of 129% since 2017.
Incredibly, if this average increase holds true, Musk is estimated to have a net worth of $1.38 trillion by the year 2024, which is just two years away. Private spaceflight is a booming industry, and Musk is clearly reaping the rewards of founding an industry leader.
Chinese billionaire Zhang Yiming, who isn't even 40 yet, could reach trillionaire status by 2026. Yiming is best known for founding TikTok.
No one in the world is currently worth $1 trillion, but there have been incredibly rich people in the past. Mansa Musa I, leader of the Mali Empire in the 14th century, is often referred to as the richest man who ever lived. It's hard to estimate his fortune in 21st century dollars, but he was surely worth several hundred billion dollars.
The South Africa-born Musk, who has U.S. citizenship, has a net worth somewhere between $200 billion and $250 billion. This places him within striking distance of John D. Rockefeller, the richest American to date, whose fortune was worth $253 billion, adjusted for inflation.
It's tough to predict these things, as there are innumerable factors that could influence Musk's wealth growing fivefold in two short years. But right now, based on the past few years of SpaceX growth, he's on track.
I think we can all agree that no one on planet Earth needs a billion dollars, or a quarter-trillion dollars, let alone one trillion dollars.
What would you like to see the world's billionaires put their money toward? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
