According to Forbes, Elon Musk’s net worth currently stands at $271.3bn as of the market’s close on Monday, 26 October. The revolutionary entrepreneur has made history by earning the title of the richest person in the world.

The SpaceX and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) owner might elevate to the status of a trillionaire soon. Let’s dive a bit deeper into how he’s getting there.

The highest one day increase in Elon Musk net worth

The week started with the after-effects of the impressive third-quarter results of Tesla. This already explosive stock further escalated with the announcement by Hertz to buy 100,000 electric vehicles from the company. The stock, which closed at $910 on Friday, reached $1,025 on Monday. A 13% jump in the share price made Tesla the hottest topic of the financial markets. As a result of this surge, the market capitalisation of the electric manufacturing company crossed the $1tr mark. Not to mention, it also gave a massive boost of roughly $36bn to Elon Musk net worth, the biggest one-day gain recorded.

Even though Elon Musk wears many hats, he is most famous as the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, owning roughly 48% and 20% of each business, respectively.

Tesla: The trillion dollar company

The electric car manufacturing firm posted its third-quarter results last week. And in my opinion, it was quite an impressive display of performance. Despite supply chain disruptions and semiconductor shortages, Tesla produced a record 237,823 cars and 241,300 cars to customers. That’s a 64% and 73% increase, respectively, compared to a year ago.

Needless to say, that’s excellent news. And so it’s not surprising that the firm also seems to have excelled on the financials side of the report. Revenue for the period jumped by 57%, and operating income came in nearly 15% higher than a year ago thanks to production improvements.

Tesla’s manufacturing efficiency is one of the strongest attraction points for investors like me. This is the prime reason the company was able to manoeuvre successfully through this quarter, despite the challenges the automotive sector has been facing, in general, this year.

Tesla and SpaceX – The contributors of Elon Musk net worth

The EV company’s stock performance has been mind-boggling since 2020. Shares of Tesla started 2020 at the price of $84.9 and concluded it at $706. That’s a whopping 700% increase within 12 months! And this performance has only continued with another 45% increase so far this year. With a 20% stake in the company, Elon Musk’s net worth just keep on getting bigger.

On the other hand, I’m getting concerned about the rising level of competition in the EV industry. There are far more players entering the field including larger traditional automotive businesses using their substantial resources to design and build their own competing electric vehicles. Should Tesla, fail to retain its market share, then its share price, and in turn, Elon Musk’s net worth could suffer considerably.

In the meantime, securing contracts for SpaceX has placed its valuation close to $100bn. But the tassel of the company with the rival firm, Blue Origin, is raising eyebrows in the investor circle. Elon Musk net worth and SpaceX valuation will receive a huge blow if Blue Origin rises as the better service provider in the aerospace industry.

To me, Elon Musk is a visionary. His vision for his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, is not only elevating his net worth but, in my opinion, is also transforming our mode of travel. With both businesses seemingly thriving, will I see headlines about Elon Musk’s net worth reaching $1tr? I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see that in the near future.

Saima Naveed does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned. The Money Cog has no position in any of the companies mentioned at the time of writing. Views expressed on the companies and assets mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the opinions of analysts in The Money Cog Premium services.