Elon Musk Just Made More Money in 6.5 Hours Than Warren Buffett Made in His Entire Life.
A staggering comparison between Elon Musk and Warren Buffett has gone viral.
According to a widely shared claim, Elon Musk’s estimated net worth increased by $164.88 billion in a single day—more than Warren Buffett’s estimated net worth of about $149 billion.
It’s worth noting that these figures refer to changes in estimated net worth driven by stock market valuations, not money received in cash. For business leaders whose wealth is tied to company shares, their net worth can rise or fall dramatically in a short period.
The comparison highlights the incredible scale of wealth that can be created—and fluctuate—in today’s technology-driven markets.
What do you think about the rapid rise of wealth in the tech industry? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Yesterday handed Elon Musk one of the largest single-day wealth gains in recorded financial history. SpaceX shares ripped from $160.95 to $192.50, and Forbes’ real-time billionaires tracker put Musk’s one-day paper gain at $164.8 billion. Warren Buffett, who had his own “good day” with an estimated $2 billion gain, finished the session with a net worth of $146.4 billion.
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Read that again. In a single 6.5-hour trading session, Musk added more dollars to his net worth than Buffett has assembled in roughly seven decades of compounding at Berkshire Hathaway. You can verify the live figures on Forbes’ real-time billionaires page.
Why SpaceX, Not Tesla, Did the Heavy Lifting
SpaceX drove the move. Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) gained slightly less than 1% in yesterday’s trading, but the move affected less than $2 billion in Musk’s net worth. The wealth move came from SpaceX, the newly public rocket and connectivity company whose stock Musk dominates through a dual-class structure.
According to SpaceX’s S-1, Musk’s holdings include 842,091,670 shares of Class A common stock and 3,788,654,145 shares of Class B common stock held through the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, plus restricted Class B grants and trust holdings that push executive officer ownership to roughly 86.0% of total voting power. Each Class B share carries ten votes versus one for Class A, which is why SpaceX qualifies as a “controlled company” under NASDAQ rules.
The Grants That Could Make Yesterday Look Small
Yesterday’s move is just the opening act. SpaceX disclosed two performance grants in its prospectus that could dwarf Musk’s current position if the company hits its long-term targets.
The first, granted in January 2026, awards Musk 1,000 million performance-based restricted shares of Class B common stock. Vesting requires two conditions: 15 equal market-capitalization milestone tranches ranging from $500 billion to $7.5 trillion, with each tranche representing $500 billion in additional valuation, AND the establishment of a permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants. The grant-date fair value was set at $90.40 to $95.92 per share for each tranche.
