Elon Musk’s wealth of $750 billion eclipses India’s four largest companies combined! What’s behind the increase?

Elon Musk’s net worth has risen to an eye-watering $749 billion – now larger than the combined market capitalization of India’s four largest listed companies: Reliance Industries ($236 billion), HDFC Bank ($184 billion), Bharti Airtel ($142 billion) and Tata Consultancy Services ($132 billion). The dramatic jump came late Friday after a major legal victory restored a massive Tesla compensation package for the billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO.According to the Forbes Billionaires Index, Musk’s fortune soared after the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Tesla stock options worth $139 billion, overturning a lower court ruling that had invalidated the ruling last year. The options were part of Musk’s groundbreaking 2018 compensation package, which was initially valued at $56 billion.

In 2024, a Delaware court had rejected the compensation deal, calling it “inscrutable,” Reuters reported. However, on Friday the Supreme Court ruled that the decision to withdraw the package was inappropriate and inequitable, effectively paving the way for a full reinstatement of the pay plan.

The ruling ends a top week for Musk. He previously became the first person in history to surpass $600 billion in net worth, amid reports that his aerospace venture SpaceX was heading for a public listing. In addition, Tesla shareholders in November approved a $1 trillion compensation framework for Musk – the largest corporate pay plan ever – to support his drive to reposition the electric vehicle maker as an AI and robotics powerhouse.

With the latest wave, Musk’s wealth is now nearly $500 billion greater than that of Google co-founder Larry Page, the second-richest person in the world, according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List.

Musk’s rise to extraordinary wealth started early. In 1995, in his early 20s, he co-founded Zip2, a software company that helped newspapers put city guides online, Fortune reported. The startup was sold to Compaq just four years later for $307 million. He followed this at X.com, an online payments company that launched in 1999 and later merged with Cofinity, PayPal’s parent company. In 2002, eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion, cementing Musk’s position among Silicon Valley’s most influential entrepreneurs.

He founded SpaceX in 2002, which has since become a central pillar of his wealth. He joined Tesla in 2004 as an early investor and took over as CEO in 2008. In 2016, Musk launched Neuralink and founded The Boring Company. His most controversial bet came in 2022, when he acquired Twitter – later renamed X – for $44 billion. (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions expressed by the experts are their own. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)