Elon Musk has seen his wealth decline significantly in 2025. But he is still the richest man on Earth | Credit: Photo Agency/Shutterstock
Elon Musk’s net worth has dropped by $75 billion from $432 billion to $357 billion amid Tesla’s stock falling 18 per cent in 2025, political fallout with President Donald Trump and widespread vandalism targeting his EV brand, according to a Fortune report on Yahoo.
The only other billionaire whose net worth has dropped so significantly is Bill Gates, but in his case, he’s been giving it away to philanthropy.
On the flipside, Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg saw significant gains from the AI rally. For Elon Musk, 2025 has been a volatile year. In January, he (and his Tesla shares) were flying high on account of his warm relationship with the world’s most powerful man, the US president.
The bromance was in decline
A few months later, the relationship with Trump went sour, and Musk, the wealthiest man on the planet, was out of the White House. He left behind the Department of Government Efficiency, which he helped create, to refocus on Tesla as it suffered boycotts and a share price with rollercoaster movement.
Then, the relationship soured further, with Trump threatening to pull contracts for Musk’s private business.
On the final day of 2024, Musk’s net worth stood at $432 billion—some way off his all-time high of $486 billion, but far from its low. At the time of writing, Musk’s net worth stands at $357 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, representing a $75 billion decline.
Others have seen their wealth soar
Conversely, many other people on the world’s rich list have seen their fortunes soar on account of an AI-driven rally in the markets. Oracle’s Larry Ellison, for example, is up from $192 billion at the end of last year to $303 billion at present. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is up from $207 billion at the end of 2024 to $272 billion at the time of writing, Fortune added.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has netted a loss from $239 billion at the end of 2024 to $234 billion at the time of writing—a fraction of the reduction seen in Musk’s empire.
Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index reveals that Gates’s fortune fell from $175 billion to $124 billion overnight on July 2nd, though this is due to a recalculation. The index explained that the figure was lowered “to reflect Gates’ outside charitable giving better.”
The figure, Bloomberg added, was also updated to reflect Gates’ statement confirming he was giving away practically all of his money to his foundation.
Gates said the donation of his net worth—approximately $100 billion—comes with a caveat: The foundation’s work, and its $200 billion (including its current endowment and projected growth), must be spent in the next 20 years. Then the Gates Foundation will shut its doors forever.
