- Elon Musk becomes first person to reach $500 billion in personal wealth.
- A surge in electric vehicle sales drove up the Tesla CEO's net worth.
- Overall U.S. EV sales were up before the end of a federal tax credit.
Solidifying his position as the world’s richest person, tech mogul Elon Musk became the first to reach the $500 billion mark as a surge in electric vehicle sales helped push his personal wealth to a lofty new height.
According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker, Musk reached $500.1 billion at 3:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday after Tesla stock prices gained 4%, adding over $9 billion to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s net worth.
Tesla’s stock jump came ahead of Thursday’s release of third-quarter sales figures for the electric vehicle maker, showing a record 497,099 vehicles were sold worldwide from July through September, surpassing the company’s previous all-time high set in the last quarter of 2024. Tesla’s 2025 third quarter sales are up 29% from the second quarter of the year and beat last year’s third quarter by 7%. Tesla sales had been slumping since the start of the year and the latest report marks the first year-over-year gains for 2025.
While surging EV sales helped push Musk over the $500 billion mark, it was a fleeting moment. Per Forbes tracking, Musk’s personal wealth slipped to $499 billion hours later and was hovering around $492 billion as of midday Thursday.
Rush to buy ahead of tax credit deadline
Tesla wasn’t alone in riding a wave of increased U.S. EV sales ahead of a Sept. 30 end date for federal tax credits on electric vehicle purchases. Those credits, worth $7,500 on new EV purchases and $4,000 on used electric vehicles, were eliminated in President Donald Trump’s budget for fiscal year 2026, which began Oct. 1.
Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Hyundai all reported record quarterly sales of all-electric vehicles from July through September, according to a report from CNBC.
GM and Ford both reported third-quarter sales overall increased roughly 8% from a year earlier, with EV sales more than doubling for GM. Ford said its electric vehicle sales increased by 30% compared with the third quarter of 2024.
Cox Automotive is forecasting a record 410,000 EVs will be sold in the third quarter, up over 21% from the same period last year and a volume 30% above the previous quarter. The share of EV sales in the third quarter will likely be close to 10% of total automotive sales, a record. The previous EV sales peak in the U.S. came in the fourth quarter of 2024, when 365,824 EVs were sold, accounting for 8.7% of total new vehicle sales, according to Cox.
“The new vehicle sales pace has been surprisingly strong this summer and through the third quarter as uncertainty around tariff policy has decreased,” Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, said in a report released last week.
“Continued low inflation and unemployment rates, coupled with a strong stock market, have kept consumers in a buying mood. A key contributor to sales in recent months has been an increase in EV sales, as buyers rush to market before the $7,500 tax credits expire at the end of September.”
But the big bump in EV interest ahead of sunsetting federal tax credits is expected to be followed by a sales hangover in the final quarter of the year.
Ford CEO Jim Farley on Tuesday said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if sales of EVs fell from an industry market share of around 10% to 12% this month — which is expected to be a record — to 5% following the end of the incentive program.