The music didn't last long: Elon Musk tried on the status of a "former trillionaire" (3 photos)

Elon Musk once again reminded people that money is nothing, ironically calling himself a "former trillionaire." The joke was inspired by the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which estimates the Tesla and SpaceX CEO's net worth at a "modest" $719 billion.





Obviously, it's too early to start betting on Musk. The world has never seen a dollar trillionaire before. This status was primarily attributed to Elon by analysts, and in advance, amid the wild rise of his companies' shares. But, as they say, the music didn't last long, and Elon didn't dance for long. The stock market only had to sag a little, and the beautiful round number vanished.



The whole point is that Musk has no cash in his drawer. His billions are pure virtuality, tightly tied to the stock prices of Tesla and SpaceX. The market shakes up, a bad report comes out, or Musk posts something unnecessary on social media, and a couple of tens of billions disappear. Then the wave goes up, and he's getting rich again at the speed of sound.

The billionaire himself takes such news more easily than anyone. Instead of the dull excuses from the press service, he simply cracked a stock joke.



For the average person, 700 billion and a trillion are both stratospheric figures. Musk hasn't eaten less or switched to a used car. But his status as an "impoverished" former trillionaire has become an excellent excuse to mock how easily paper wealth can turn into pumpkins at the pinnacle of global business.