Elon Musk experienced a dramatic decline in net worth, losing approximately US$130 billion over five trading days shortly after becoming the world’s first trillionaire, according to recent market activity. Musk’s reversal came after SpaceX’s record-setting US$75 billion initial public offering (IPO) in June briefly propelled him to the trillionaire milestone.
Musk’s wealth contraction coincided with sharp stock declines in his two publicly traded companies. Tesla shares fell 18 percent over the past week, marking their largest weekly drop since 2022 and closing at US$313.03 on Friday. The decline followed Tesla’s earnings report, which disappointed some investors due to heavy spending on future initiatives, including robotics, humanoid robots, and a semiconductor fabrication facility developed with SpaceX and AI company xAI. This surge in investment pushed Tesla’s cash flow into negative territory for the first time in two years. The company’s stock has dropped nearly 30 percent year-to-date, ranking it as the poorest performer among major technology firms. SpaceX shares also declined, closing at US$115.07 on Friday, their lowest level since the IPO.
In contrast, the initial public offering of ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), one of China’s leading memory chip manufacturers, ignited significant gains for its executives and investors. CXMT’s stock soared 466 percent on its first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, valuing the company at 3.28 trillion yuan (approximately HK$3.8 trillion). Directors, senior executives, core technical staff, and close relatives collectively hold more than 2 billion shares in the company.
CXMT Chairman Zhu Yiming and President Cao Kanyu hold shares valued at nearly 80 billion yuan and over 10 billion yuan, respectively. Meanwhile, other Chinese tech entrepreneurs also saw their fortunes rise alongside robust market performances. Tang Jie, founder and chief technology officer of AI firm Z.Ai (also known as Zhipu), has a net worth near HK$35.8 billion based on the latest closing price of the company’s Hong Kong-listed stock. Yan Junjue, founder and CEO of MiniMax, another Hong Kong-listed AI peer, holds wealth estimated at HK$18.2 billion. Yan recently announced he would forgo his salary until MiniMax achieves artificial general intelligence, pledging personal shares to long-term employee incentives and open-source community support.
Financial analysts note that fluctuations in tech wealth—whether in the United States or China—largely reflect underlying market volatility and the largely paper-based nature of billionaire fortunes. Liu Shengjun, chief of the China Financial Reform Institute, highlighted the cyclical nature of stock markets while emphasizing that current tech entrepreneurs differ from previous property magnates by generating substantial societal value through innovation and intelligence. He described entrepreneurship as a crucial driver of the modern economy and a scarce, indispensable asset for China’s development.
The contrasting fortunes of Musk and Chinese tech executives underscore the volatility that can accompany rapid innovation-driven growth in the global technology sector.