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The bubble burst, or how Elon Musk fell out of the trillionaire club

Stock market crash and concerns about "artificial prosperity" melted the billionaire's fortune to $ 957 billion after the historic IPO of SpaceX

Just a few days after breaking all possible records on Wall Street, Elon Musk was forced to say goodbye to his title as the first trillionaire in history. A sudden and massive sell-off in the global stock market wiped hundreds of billions from the market capitalization of his technology empires. Despite the serious financial shake-up, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that his net worth is currently equal to a cosmic $ 957 billion, which gives him the leading position among the richest people on the planet.

The eccentric entrepreneur reached his absolute zenith earlier this month, fueled by the long-awaited and historic initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX. The market euphoria shot the aerospace company's valuation above the psychological $2 trillion mark, thanks to aggressive share buying by retail investors. However, within a few sessions, the company's shares reversed course and fell precipitously to levels of around $156 - a shocking 30% drop from the peak of $225 recorded on June 16.

Market analysts attribute this brutal reversal to the growing panic among investors that the artificial intelligence sector has turned into a classic speculative bubble, topped with increasing fears of an imminent interest rate hike. The spotlight also fell on SpaceX's pre-IPO financial report, Form S-1, which revealed startling figures. It turned out that the company generated a net loss of $4.9 billion for the past 2025, while capital expenditures for its deficit-ridden AI division have consumed a whopping $12.7 billion. The figures have led many to question the real backing behind promises to build data centers in outer space and colonize Mars.

Despite the severe shake-ups, SpaceX remains Musk’s crown jewel – his stake there is valued at $744 billion and accounts for almost 80% of his personal wealth. The rest of his capital is concentrated mostly in Tesla, whose $158 billion shares have also been at the epicenter of the bear trend. Still, Musk can sleep easy, as the gap between him and the second-ranked person – Google co-founder Larry Page – remains a mind-boggling $660 billion, an amount that exceeds twice the entire fortune of Jeff Bezos.