FAR-RIGHT agitator Elon Musk will be richer than 46% of the world’s population combined if he becomes the first trillionaire, according to new analysis.
The figures from Oxfam come as Musk’s SpaceX raised $75 billion (£56bn) ahead of its record-breaking $1.8 trillion (£1.3trn) US stock market debut on Friday.
The float could make Tesla and X owner Musk – already the world’s richest man – the world’s first paper trillionaire.
The Oxfam analysis found that would make Musk richer than the poorest 46% of the world population, or 3.8 billion people, combined.
It would also mean that Musk’s wealth grew by over $550bn over the past year, equivalent to an average rate of over $1 million per minute, the charity said.
Oxfam estimates that ending extreme poverty for a year would cost $96.2bn.
The charity said that “such extreme concentrated wealth is symptomatic of decades of pro-billionaire politics that have allowed the ultra-rich to write economic rules in their favour”.
The analysis comes as a new poll, carried out by YouGov on behalf of Oxfam in the UK, found:
- Six in ten Britons (60%) think it is unacceptable for any individual to hold more than £1trn in personal wealth.
- Three quarters (76%) would support a 2% wealth tax on net assets worth more than £10m, which Oxfam says could raise an estimated £24bn in additional revenue annually.
- 71% of Britons believe the current economic system works mainly in the interests of the very wealthy rather than ordinary people
Jamie Livingstone, the head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “At a time when folk are struggling with the high cost of living, the prospect of the world’s first trillionaire isn’t something to celebrate, instead it’s a dark day that should stop us all in our tracks.
“We’re living through a new gilded age, and it won’t fix itself. The rise of a trillionaire should be an alarm bell for governments everywhere. While we may not have trillionaires in Scotland, people still feel the consequences of an economy that isn’t working for them.
“Extreme wealth on this scale doesn’t happen by chance. It’s the result of political choices that have stacked the system in favour of the richest, creating levels of inequality most people know just aren’t right.
“It’s incumbent on governments everywhere, including in the UK and here in Scotland, to act, because no society can thrive when extreme wealth for a few comes at the expense of everyone else.”
In a filing with America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SpaceX confirmed the float price of $135 (£100.65) for shares, with 555.6 million being sold.
It will mean SpaceX is set to be valued at $1.77trn when trading kicks off, and it will make the history books as the biggest ever initial public offering (IPO), eclipsing that of former record holder Saudi Aramco when it raised $25.6bn (£19.1bn) in its listing on Riyadh’s stock exchange in 2019.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said there are worries over SpaceX’s sky-high valuation.
“It is priced at 56 times future revenues, which is a huge multiple,” she said.
