Musk’s 2024 year-end summary: What records has he set?

Source: Quantum

Elon Musk set many records this year.

His businesses took off, with Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and Neuralink all hitting new highs in valuation. The success of these businesses has pushed Musk's net worth to more than $450 billion (about 3.28 trillion yuan) for the first time, more than $200 billion (about 1.46 trillion yuan) higher than the world's second richest man, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Musk used his money and influence to help Donald Trump win a second term, and he has become a powerful figure in American politics. As one of the president-elect's closest advisers, he is now preparing to overhaul the US government.

After Musk bought and reshaped the Twitter (now X) platform for $44 billion, it triggered an exodus of advertisers, and X seems to be in worse shape.

Here's a chart of Musk's 2024 (all data as of Friday, Dec. 20):

1. Charge ahead

So far this year, Tesla's stock has surged 85%, pushing the electric car maker's market value above $1.4 trillion (about 10.22 trillion yuan) for the first time. Although Tesla's stock has since retreated, it remains near its all-time high.

The automaker has benefited from the market's enthusiasm for artificial intelligence - which it is using to develop self-driving cars and humanoid robots - coupled with a strong U.S. economy and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Investors are also betting that Musk's business will benefit from his close relationship with Trump, which could lead to looser regulations, government subsidies, tariff exemptions and more.

2. Look up at the stars

Based on the price SpaceX and its backers paid for employee shares in the latest acquisition offer, the company's valuation has almost doubled from $180 billion (about 1.31 trillion yuan) at the end of last year to $350 billion (about 2.55 trillion yuan) this month.

Musk's rocket, spacecraft and satellite communications company has made several technological breakthroughs this year. For example, the company used a pair of giant mechanical "chopsticks" to catch the returning Starship first-stage booster from the air in October.

3. A change of fate

In the spring, as Tesla's stock price plummeted, Musk's net worth also fell, falling below $170 billion (about 1.24 trillion yuan) at its lowest point.

But on December 17, as Tesla's stock price hit a new high and SpaceX's valuation reached $350 billion (about 2.55 trillion yuan), the market value rebounded by more than $300 billion (about 2.19 trillion yuan) to an unprecedented $486 billion (about 3.55 trillion yuan).

4. The rise of robots

Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI wasn’t founded until July 2023.

However, after completing its Series B funding in May, the company was valued at $24 billion (about 175.2 billion yuan). In November, the valuation was reported to have risen to $50 billion (about 364.9 billion yuan), which means the Grok chatbot maker is valued at roughly the same as Monster Beverage.

5. X Declines

It remains tricky to judge the health of X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter that Musk took private in 2022. One way is to use Fidelity’s monthly estimates of the value of its stake in the business.

Data from the mutual fund giant suggest that X’s valuation has fallen sharply since Musk bought it. The tech billionaire fired most of the company’s employees and relaxed content moderation in favor of free speech, which triggered an exodus of advertisers that hammered the company’s revenue.

Regardless, Musk recently posted on X that the platform has about 1 billion active users, although about 40% of them only log in during major world events.

6. Trump Train

Musk is one of the biggest spenders in the US presidential election, having invested more than $270 million (about 1.971 billion yuan) to support Trump's presidential campaign, run ads against the Democratic Party and promote conservative views.

His starring role in Trump's victory and becoming one of the president-elect's closest advisers and co-head of the newly formed Government Effectiveness Department shows that his investment in the election has paid off.

7. Cultivate intelligence

Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink was valued at $8 billion (about 58.386 billion yuan) this summer, up from about $2 billion (equivalent to 14.596 billion yuan today) three years ago.

The brain-computer interface developer hopes to allow quadriplegics to control computers with their thoughts. This spring, Musk released a video of the first patient to receive his brain implant.