Elon Musk regains trillionaire status as wealth jumps by $88bn

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, gained an estimated $88 billion on Wednesday morning, pushing his net worth back to over a trillion dollars after shares of SpaceX and Tesla rose.

According to Forbes, Musk’s wealth stood at $1.013 trillion as of 10:30 am on Wednesday.

The increase followed a surge of more than 10 percent in SpaceX shares after the company reported third-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

Tesla shares also rose more than 3 percent ahead of its earnings report scheduled for after the market closed on Wednesday.

Musk’s confirmation that SpaceX and Tesla are considering a merger reportedly boosted Tesla shares.

Speaking during SpaceX’s earnings call on Tuesday night, the tech investor said the boards of both companies had formed special committees to discuss a potential merger.

He described the deal as a “good idea” but cautioned that it was not “a certainty”.

Musk owns about 38 percent of SpaceX and 11 percent of Tesla, leaving his wealth heavily exposed to movements in the two companies’ valuations.

SpaceX reported a 161 percent year-on-year increase in revenue in the third quarter (Qof , while revenue from its artificial intelligence business grew 830 percent.

The company also reported an increase in Starlink subscribers from 1.6 million to 13.6 million during the quarter.

Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on June 12, following SpaceX’s public listing.

One week later, he suffered the biggest loss of personal wealth ever recorded after a sharp decline in the value of SpaceX erased about $350 billion from his fortune in one week.

On October 19, Musk also said he would give every child in the United States a SpaceX share next year.

Forbes estimated that distributing shares to all 72 million Americans under the age of 18 would cost about $10.5 billion, based on Friday’s closing share price of $146.03. (TheCable)