Elon Musk is still the richest person on the planet, but his estimated net worth fell by about $113 billion (roughly £84bn) on paper in the two trading days after the 2026 US midterms. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index had him at $898bn on election day, Tuesday 3 November. By Thursday's close, Tesla and SpaceX shares had slid far enough to take that down to around $785bn. Forbes, which uses its own method, had him back at about $836bn (~£625bn) by midday New York time on Friday 6 November.
All of these figures are estimates. They move with share prices every trading day, so treat any single number as a snapshot. Here is what happened this week, where the money actually sits, and how the main trackers compare.
Elon Musk net worth at a glance (November 2026)
| Measure | Figure | Source / date |
|---|---|---|
| Net worth on election day | $898bn (~£671bn) | Bloomberg Billionaires Index, 3 Nov 2026 |
| Wednesday loss | $33.5bn (−3.7%) | Bloomberg, close 4 Nov |
| Thursday loss | $79.7bn | Bloomberg, close 5 Nov (via Fortune) |
| Two-day loss | ~$113bn (~£84bn) | Bloomberg, close 5 Nov |
| Forbes real-time estimate | ~$836bn (~£625bn) | Forbes, 6 Nov 2026 |
| World ranking | No. 1 | Forbes and Bloomberg |
| Main assets | ~38% of SpaceX (incl. options), nearly 11% of Tesla | Forbes profile |
| Midterm political spending | $446m–$474m+ (tallies differ) | OpenSecrets, NYT, Business Insider |
Sterling conversions use the ECB reference rate of 6 November 2026 (about £0.75 to the dollar) and are rounded.
What happened: two days, $113bn
Musk was the largest individual donor of the 2026 cycle. OpenSecrets puts his spending at $445.7m, while The New York Times reported at least $474m, around $224m of it on races in Texas. Most of that backed Republicans, including Ken Paxton's Senate campaign. Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico, Democrats took both houses of Congress, and Gina Hinojosa won the Texas governorship.
Markets took it in their stride; the Dow rose 3% on Wednesday. Musk's two big listed companies did not. According to Fortune, Tesla closed Wednesday down 3.3% and SpaceX down 3.8%, while Amazon and Apple gained more than 5%. That cost Musk $33.5bn. Then it got worse. Thursday's broader tech sell-off took another $79.7bn, which brought the two-day loss to about $113bn on the Bloomberg index.
Fortune's numbers show the scale. Tesla and SpaceX had a combined market value of about $3.5 trillion on Tuesday night and about $3.04 trillion by Thursday night, a drop of roughly $456bn. SpaceX ended Thursday worth about $1.68tn and Tesla about $1.36tn.
Why investors sold
Analysts quoted by CNN, MarketWatch and Fortune gave a few reasons:
- Several Democrats have said they intend to investigate Musk and his companies.
- In Texas, Hinojosa campaigned on a moratorium on new data centre construction. Both Tesla and SpaceX have staked a lot on AI, and SpaceX plans major data centre investment in the state.
- Tesla and SpaceX are reported to be exploring a merger, which a Democratic-controlled Congress could complicate.
- Thursday was a bad day for chip and AI stocks in general, so not all of the fall was about Musk.
Not everyone thinks the fall will last. One analyst told Fortune the sell-off was a "knee-jerk reaction" that overestimates how much Democrats can actually do to the companies.
Where Elon Musk's fortune actually sits
Most of Musk's estimated wealth is held in SpaceX and, to a lesser extent, Tesla shares, which is why it swings so violently. According to his Forbes profile, the bulk of it is SpaceX. He owns about 38% of the company, including options. SpaceX went public on 12 June 2026 at a valuation of nearly $2 trillion, which made him the world's first trillionaire. Earlier in the year SpaceX had acquired xAI, which had itself absorbed Twitter/X.
His second pillar is Tesla. He owns nearly 11%, and Forbes notes that unvested shares from his 2018 pay award could add roughly another 8% if they vest. He also holds stakes in The Boring Company and Neuralink, which are small next to the two listed giants.
A 10% move in SpaceX or Tesla shares can shift Musk's estimated wealth by tens of billions of dollars in a single session. These are changes in estimated wealth, not cash gains or losses.
The money for the midterms is tiny in comparison. The NYT worked out that, relative to his wealth, it was like someone with a median US net worth of about $411,000 spending a little over $217.
Forbes vs Bloomberg: why the numbers differ
You will see different figures for Musk's net worth on the same day. Bloomberg updates its index once a day after the US close. Forbes runs a real-time tracker that moves during trading. The timing alone produces gaps. That is why, during Thursday's trading, Forbes had him at between about $788bn and $796bn, while Bloomberg's close implied around $785bn. Both still had him far ahead of everyone else. Business Insider noted that after Wednesday's fall he was still about $490bn richer than Jeff Bezos, who was second at $375bn.
Elon Musk's net worth over time
Put the week in context and it looks a lot less dramatic. These are Forbes' annual estimates:
| Forbes list | Estimated net worth |
|---|---|
| March 2017 | $13.9bn |
| April 2020 | $24.6bn |
| April 2021 | $151bn |
| April 2022 | $219bn |
| April 2023 | $180bn |
| April 2024 | $195bn |
| April 2025 | $342bn |
| March 2026 | $839bn |
Even after this week, his fortune is roughly where Forbes put it in March, before the SpaceX listing. For the story of where the money started, see our piece on whether Elon Musk was born rich. For the early Tesla years, read the Martin Eberhard story.
What to watch next
The new Congress sits in January. Until then, the main things that will move Musk's wealth are SpaceX and Tesla share prices, any news on a merger between the two, and whatever happens to the Texas data centre plans under the new governor. Other tech fortunes are exposed to the same AI trade. Compare Jensen Huang's wealth or Mark Zuckerberg's.
This article reports published estimates and is not investment advice. Share-based fortunes can rise or fall quickly; if you are making decisions about your own investments, speak to an FCA-regulated adviser.
