Musk regains trillionaire status as SpaceX shares surge

Elon Musk is a trillionaire again. His estimated net worth rose by about $88 billion to $1.013 trillion as of 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 21, according to Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires list. SpaceX shares jumped after the company's third-quarter results beat forecasts, and Musk said it and Tesla had formed committees to study a merger.cnbc.com

Forbes said the gain came mostly from SpaceX stock, which rose more than 10%. Tesla shares were up more than 3% ahead of the automaker's own earnings report, due after the closing bell.cnbc.com

A strong quarter for SpaceX

SpaceX reported third-quarter revenue of $14.6 billion on Tuesday, up 161% from a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected $12.72 billion. The company earned $4.4 billion, compared with a loss of $1.1 billion a year earlier. It was SpaceX's first quarterly profit as a public company. Its AI unit, recently renamed "Super Intelligence," brought in $7.6 billion. That was more than half of total revenue and more than Starlink and the rocket business combined.cnbc.com+2

The results helped lift technology stocks more broadly, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1%. JPMorgan ↘ 1.47% said the stock could more than triple from its current price.afp.com+1

Talk of a Tesla merger

On Tuesday's earnings call, Musk said both companies' boards had set up special committees of independent directors to discuss combining, "at the request of shareholders." He said he could not take part in the talks because he is a "conflicted party". Musk also said people should not treat a deal as certain. The committees "have not reached any agreement on any terms of any transaction and there is no guarantee that they will," he said. A merger would be the largest on record, according to CNBC.cnbc.com+2

A fortune that keeps moving

Musk first became a trillionaire on June 12, when SpaceX went public in the largest IPO ever. Since then he has dropped below and climbed back above the mark several times. Most recently, he fell below it last week when SpaceX shares slid more than 3%. His wealth is tied directly to his SpaceX and Tesla holdings, so moves in either stock can push him back under.yahoo.com

The next test is Tesla's third-quarter report, due after the market closes Wednesday. The company has already reported 486,532 deliveries for the quarter. That beat analysts' forecasts but was 2% lower than a year earlier.yahoo.com