SpaceX hit $225 per share intraday on 16 June. That made Musk the world’s first trillionaire. By 23 June, the stock had retreated to $156. Bloomberg put his net worth at $957 billion. Nine days as a trillionaire. The SpaceX bet is still enormous. But the market is recalibrating what it will pay for AI promises.
Elon Musk’s loss of trillionaire status on 24 June — and the arithmetic is straightforward. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts his fortune at $957 billion, a figure mirroring steep drops in both SpaceX and Tesla shares during a market selloff. SpaceX went public on 12 June at $135 per share. As TF covered in its SpaceX IPO article, early trading briefly drove the stock to $225 intraday on 16 June. A 16% single-day plunge on Monday erased roughly $240 billion from Musk’s fortune. By Tuesday’s close, SpaceX shares had settled near $156 — a retreat of more than 30% from the $225 intraday high. Additionally, Tesla stock fell an additional 5.8% on Tuesday, adding to the damage. The combined move cost Musk the distinction he held for fewer than 10 days.
What’s Happening & Why It Matters
The Musk Wealth Picture
Elon Musk’s loss of trillionaire status needs specific context to interpret accurately. Despite the decline, Musk’s fortune still far exceeds that of the second-richest person. The nearest rival on the wealth rankings is Google co-founder Larry Page, whose $297 billion fortune trails Musk’s by roughly $660 billion — a margin that amounts to more than twice Jeff Bezos’s entire net worth. The $338 billion Musk has added to his fortune in 2026 alone outstrips the total wealth of the world’s second-richest person.
At $957 billion, Musk is not merely still the world’s richest person. He is the richest by the widest margin in recorded financial history. The trillionaire label is symbolic — it is the first time any individual has held that status. By contrast, its loss does not recall a change in Musk’s competitive position. It is a market recalibrating the premium it will assign to a newly public AI-exposed company over a two-week trading window.
SpaceX’s Specific Exposure
SpaceX is Musk’s most valuable asset. As of Tuesday, that SpaceX position was valued at $744 billion, representing close to 80% of Musk’s overall wealth. SpaceX shares had settled near $156 — a retreat of more than 30% from the $225 intraday high. The post-IPO surge and retreat follows a pattern that TF documented in its AI stocks sell-off article. The tech market questioned whether AI spending of $452 billion by hyperscalers will generate proportionate returns. SpaceX — at over 100 times sales — carries the highest multiple of any company in that conversation. At that valuation level, a sentiment shift does not need to be severe to produce a 30% intraday-high-to-settlement retreat.
Additionally, the IPO timing creates a specific mechanical pressure. Early retail investors and institutional allocatees who received shares at $135 and saw them touch $225 faced a straightforward profit-taking calculation. Taking gains after a 67% two-day pop is not irrational. As that selling pressure accumulates, the stock finds a clearing price — which the market appears to be discovering somewhere around $156.
Tesla’s Separate Contribution
Elon Musk’s loss of trillionaire status is not just SpaceX but a simultaneous Tesla decline. Tesla stock fell an additional 5.8% on Tuesday. Tesla has declined roughly 49% year-to-date through 18 June — as TF covered in its Lucid layoffs article, the EV market slowdown following the end of the federal tax credit has affected every manufacturer. Tesla carries additional specific challenges — three concurrent NHTSA probes of FSD, a delayed Robotaxi launch, and the Roadster still awaiting its demo event. By contrast, Tesla generated $19.4 billion in Q1 2026 revenue. The asset is real. The multiple it commanded a year ago has not survived 2026’s correction.
Social Media’s Response
The internet reacted to Musk’s trillionaire loss with the specific creative energy that wealth milestones generate. Social media lit up with thoughts on the news. One Reddit user joked, “Guys, I think I’m responsible. I just cancelled my subscription to Starlink.” Others said, “Now he is one of us. I also have no trillionaire status,” and, “This is truly sad news, how will he cope?” The jokes are accurate on the math — $957 billion is not meaningfully different from $1 trillion from any practical perspective — and they capture the public’s relationship with the trillionaire threshold as a cultural category rather than a financially significant distinction.
TF Summary: What’s Next
SpaceX shares continue trading on Nasdaq as SPCX. The Nasdaq-100 fast-entry forced buying is expected in early July — as TF covered in its SpaceX IPO article, that rebalancing event will generate an estimated $22 to $27 billion in mechanical index fund buying. Musk’s trillionaire status will return if SPCX recovers above approximately $170 per share and Tesla stabilises. Neither is guaranteed in the current market environment.
MY FORECAST: Elon Musk’s loss of trillionaire status is temporary. The Nasdaq-100 inclusion event in early July will provide a significant and structural buying catalyst for SPCX — $22 to $27 billion in forced mechanical purchases from every QQQ-tracking fund in the world. By contrast, whether SPCX returns to its June 16 intraday high of $225 is a different question entirely. That price required every AI optimism thesis to be simultaneously believed. The June 23 sell-off demonstrated that investor patience for AI monetisation has a measurable limit. Musk will be a trillionaire again — the Nasdaq-100 event and Starlink‘s $11.4 billion EBITDA margin ensure that. The timing depends on whether Micron’s Wednesday results, the Fed’s rate trajectory, and OpenAI‘s IPO roadshow collectively restore AI sentiment before the quarter closes.
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