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Elon Musk is a Trillionaire [1]

['Dan K', 'Greg Dworkin', 'Citizen Earth']

Date: 2026-06-12  

Thanks to Elon Musk’s Very Special Boy privileges, in which the usual investment rules that prohibit investment in initial public offerings (IPOs) were set aside, Musk’s SpaceX IPO today, June 12, 2026, officially makes him a trillionaire.

Welcome to “trillionaire,” a word that keeps being flagged as a misspelling in my word processor.

IPO valuations are arbitrary and are notoriously unreliable indicators of true value. That’s why IPOs are not to be included in an investment portfolio.

Normally, new stocks are allowed to “breathe” or settle into a realistic market value long before there is any consideration of inclusion in an investment mix. Those rules were waived for Musk. Retirement funds have been forced into investing in SpaceX stock at IPO value. In effect, our 401(k)s, etc. have been turned into a money funnel into Elon’s pocket. Some investment professionals have questioned its legality. Charles Ponzi would be proud.

What’s the difference between a thousand, a million, a billion, and a trillion? I’ll illustrate Musk’s level of wealth by going in the opposite direction.

Light travels approximately 186,000 miles per second, or 300,000 kilometers per second. Imagine flying from New York City to Honolulu and back again eighteen times, all in a single second.

In one millisecond (thousandth of a second), light travels about 186 miles, or 300 kilometers. If you can cover a thousand dollar emergency, congratulations. You are doing better than 53% of Americans.

In one microsecond (millionth of a second), light travels 982 feet, or about 300 meters. If you have a net worth of $1 million or higher, congratulations. That puts you ahead of about 82% of Americans.

In one nanosecond (billionth of a second), light travels just 11.8 inches, or 30 centimeters. This is why computer chips are small. The speed of light becomes a limiting factor. Clock cycles are measured in nanoseconds, but this still doesn’t get us down to the trillionaire scale.

In one picosecond (trillionth of a second), light travels 300 microns, about the thickness of three sheets of paper. We’re in the world of single-cell microbes. And Elon Musk.

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EDIT: As noted by Kevo2007, the S&P 500 held the line and did not make a Very Special Boy exception for Musk. It will be at least a year before S&P 500 will consider SpaceX, if it shows profitability.

As far as I know, all other indexes did waive their own rules. At the very least, it’s a violation of trust.

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