Elon Musk Lost His Trillionaire Status Again After 3 Days — Then Won It Back in 24 Hours
A $63 billion slide, a $40 billion chip-buying report, and a Friday rebound: inside the wildest week yet for the world's richest man.
Monday: trillionaire. Thursday: "only" a billionaire. Friday morning: trillionaire again. That is how Elon Musk's week went. The SpaceX and Tesla boss lost about $63 billion in three days and dropped below the $1 trillion mark for the second time this year. Yet he is still the richest person on Earth by a gap of roughly $600 billion — and he says the giant number was never cash in the first place.
- Musk regained his trillionaire status on Monday, Oct 5, after SpaceX shares jumped nearly 8%.
- He lost it again by Thursday, Oct 8 — about $63 billion gone in three days.
- A report that SpaceX plans to raise $40 billion to buy Nvidia chips helped trigger the slide.
- On Friday, Oct 9, Forbes had him back at $1.012 trillion as SpaceX and Tesla rallied.
- Musk's view: his wealth is company ownership, not money sitting in a bank.
How Elon Musk Lost His Trillionaire Status in Just Three Days
The week started well. On Monday, October 5, SpaceX shares rose nearly 8% after Morgan Stanley analysts said the stock looked cheap at that price. Musk owns around 4.76 billion SpaceX shares, including about 1.3 billion shares of unvested restricted stock. So the jump pushed his net worth from $976.9 billion to $1.04 trillion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his fortune hit a recent high of $1.05 trillion on Tuesday. Then the slide began.
The $40 billion Nvidia chip report
On Wednesday, October 7, SpaceX shares fell after a report said the company plans to raise $40 billion to buy Nvidia chips for its AI push. Forbes estimated Musk lost $21 billion that morning alone. The worry for investors is simple: huge spending and a heavier debt load, even if the money builds AI infrastructure.
Thursday: below $1 trillion again
By Thursday, October 8, SpaceX was down about 3.5% and trading under $162 a share, while Tesla slipped more than 2%. Forbes put Musk's fortune at $991.6 billion after a one-day drop of roughly $36.4 billion. Bloomberg had him at $987 billion. Either way, the trillionaire crown was gone — for the second time.
The Twist: Musk Became a Trillionaire Again on Friday
The drop did not last long. By around 10 a.m. ET on Friday, October 9, Forbes showed Musk back at $1.012 trillion — a $22 billion morning gain. Two pieces of news did the work:
- Tesla rose more than 2.5% after China's Passenger Car Association data showed Shanghai-built sales up 5% year over year, to 95,366 units from 90,812.
- SpaceX rose about 1.5% after agreeing to buy a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses, reportedly worth $8 billion, for its planned "Starlink Mobile" service.
That means Musk gained, lost and regained the trillionaire title within five days. Through it all, he never left the No. 1 spot. On Forbes' list, Jeff Bezos sat in second place with an estimated $378.2 billion.
Elon Musk's net worth, day by day
| Day (Oct 2026) | What happened | Net worth |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, Oct 5 | SpaceX jumps ~8% | $1.04T |
| Tue, Oct 6 | Recent high (Bloomberg) | $1.05T |
| Wed, Oct 7 | $40B Nvidia chip report; −$21B | Falling |
| Thu, Oct 8 | SpaceX −3.5%, Tesla −2% | $987B–$991.6B |
| Fri, Oct 9 | China sales + spectrum deal | $1.012T |
Figures from Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes real-time estimates. The two trackers use different methods, so their numbers differ slightly.
Musk: "It's Not Sitting in a Bank Account"
Musk has long played down the giant number. Speaking with entrepreneur Peter Diamandis earlier this year — about three months before the SpaceX IPO — he explained that being a trillionaire just means he owns a share of companies he built. As those companies do useful things and grow, his stakes add up to a number that looks huge on paper.
“…it's not sitting in a bank account.
— Elon Musk, on his trillionaire status
That is why his fortune moves so fast. Forbes says Musk owns about 38% of SpaceX and 11% of Tesla. When those stocks move a few percent, his net worth moves by tens of billions of dollars.
Ray Dalio makes the same point
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio has argued something similar. On Steven Bartlett's The Diary of a CEO podcast, he said paper wealth and spendable money are two different things: to spend wealth, you first have to sell the assets and turn them into cash.
"Money won't matter" in 10 years, Musk predicts
Musk goes even further. He told The Economist he expects money to stop mattering by 2036, because AI and robots could do so much work that jobs become optional. He has floated the idea of a "universal high income" and points to Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, where money does not exist at all.
Timeline: Elon Musk's Trillionaire Roller Coaster in 2026
Musk Isn't the Only Billionaire Riding the Market
Huge swings are normal at the very top. Last year, Oracle founder Larry Ellison briefly passed Musk as the world's richest person after Oracle stock jumped 36% and added about $101 billion to his fortune. Just two days later, Ellison was down an estimated $34 billion while Musk gained $35 billion — putting Musk back on top.
Over the past year, Michael Dell gained around $122 billion, nearly doubling his wealth. Larry Page added $16.3 billion and Jeff Bezos about $24.5 billion in the same period.
FAQ: Elon Musk's Trillionaire Status
Elon Musk's "trillionaire" title now flips with the daily price of SpaceX and Tesla stock. He lost $63 billion in three days and won much of it back in a single morning. As Musk himself says, it is ownership on paper, not cash in the bank — and as long as his wealth is tied to two volatile stocks, expect the title to keep coming and going.
This article is based on a report by Fortune (فورتشن).
Read the original report ↗Additional sources: Forbes (Oct 8) · Forbes (Oct 9) · Bloomberg Billionaires Index
