The massive payday—valued at $1 trillion—cements Musk’s place among the world’s richest individuals. As one social media user quipped, “That’s enough to buy the top three U.S. oil companies or end world hunger twice over.”
Read more about the Tesla shareholder vote here.
Musk’s Unusual Relationship with Wealth
Unlike many billionaires, Elon Musk has long claimed to live a minimalist lifestyle. “I prefer a simple life with few possessions,” he told TED’s Chris Anderson in a 2021 interview, revealing that he doesn’t own a house and often sleeps in friends’ spare rooms.
Even his former partner Grimes once told Vanity Fair, “Bro does not live like a billionaire. Bro lives, at times, below the poverty line.” She recalled staying in a modest $40,000 home with Musk—complete with a mattress that had a hole he refused to replace.
Between 2020 and 2021, Musk sold seven of his California homes, including a Bel-Air mansion once owned by actor Gene Wilder, tweeting: “Don’t need the cash. Devoting myself to Mars and Earth. Possession just weighs you down.”
