When it comes to the richest people on Earth, it can be difficult to comprehend just how much they have. For perspective, if you decided to count from one to a billion, it would take you over 95 years. Even with this example, trying to wrap your head around the idea of having hundreds of billions of dollars seems impossible.
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To get a sense of just how much the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, actually has, we’ve divided his net worth among all of Tesla’s employees. Here are the results.
How Did Elon Musk Make His Fortune?
While Musk made a lot of crucial decisions that led to amassing hundreds of billions of dollars, he started off in a very good position. Musk’s father, Errol, owned a stake in a Zambian emerald mine, allowing Musk to attend private schools and use computers at a young age. Musk was also able to use his mother Maye’s Canadian citizenship to leave South Africa and study in Canada and the United States.
At the beginning of Musk’s career, he co-founded a software company called Zip2, which he sold to Compaq in 1999 for $307 million. With that money, he founded a financial services and payment company called X.com. After changing its name to PayPal, he sold this to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
With a successful streak of business ventures, Musk began investing in and acquiring multiple companies. In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX. Two years later, he invested in Tesla and became the company’s CEO in 2008. He also invested in Neuralink and The Boring Company and eventually purchased Twitter for $44 billion. While his wealth comes from multiple companies and income streams, a large portion of Musk’s net worth depends on Tesla.
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How Much Would Each Tesla Employee Get?
Exact figures of Tesla’s 2025 staff are not publicly available. However, at the end of 2024, Tesla had a total of 125,665 employees. Positions in Tesla range from software engineers to service technicians to product managers. Salaries range from as little as $27 per hour to over $200,000 per year.
If these employees were to split Musk’s wealth, they’d be in for a hefty payday. According to Forbes, Musk’s fortune has nearly reached a half-trillion dollars. His net worth of $497.4 billion, in late November/early December makes him the richest person on Earth. Dividing his wealth among Tesla employees would award each person with $3,958,142.68.
Having nearly $4 million would be enough for each employee to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Those who chose to invest the lump sum and earn dividends would likely make more than their current salaries. For example, investing the total amount and earning 5% annually would mean making $197,907.13 per year. If they had a 7% dividend yield, they would make $277,069.99 annually.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: If Elon Musk’s Net Worth Was Divided Among Tesla Employees, How Much Would Each One Get?
