Tesla billionaire Elon Musk's net worth is still $70,000,000,000 less than richest person in history
Elon Musk is (almost) as rich as they come.
With him set to become the world's first official trillionaire, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has a pretty healthy bank balance to say the least.
With Elon Musk seeing even more digits added to his bank balance in the aftermath of the 2024 American election, his net worth is on the up.
Still, even the world's richest man is far from the richest man who's ever existed.
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According to Money.com, that honor goes to Mansa Musa. With a fortune sitting at $400 billion, Mansa Musa is thought to be far and away the richest person that has ever lived.
Known as the tenth Mansa (conqueror) of the Mali Empire, Mansa Musa reigned from 1312 to 1337 and owes his immense fortune to his hordes of gold and legacy as the 'King of Timbuktu.' During the height of his power, the Malian Empire was the largest producer of gold in the world - at a time when it was most in demand.
According to Rudolph Ware, an associate professor of history at the University of Michigan, Musa was so rich, that people couldn't even explain how rich he was. Ware says: "This is the richest guy anyone has ever seen, that’s the point. They’re trying to find words to explain that.
"There are pictures of him holding a scepter of gold on a throne of gold holding a cup of gold with a golden crown on his head. Imagine as much gold as you think a human being could possess and double it, that’s what all the accounts are trying to communicate."
While Elon Musk is undoubtedly rich and has spent a huge sum on a compound to house his children, that's nothing compared to stories about Mansa Musa's wealth.
There's the famous tale of his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, with reports of up to 200,000 men, with 12,000 slaves each carrying four pounds of gold bars.
Musa's spending was reportedly so lavish, it caused a currency crisis in Egypt. Beat that, Elon.
At the time of writing, Elon Musk's current net worth is $334.1 billion, which is a massive $70 billion leap since the election.
To put it into context, it's overtaken Musk's previous high of $320.3 billion from November 2021. Back then, Tesla saw a surge in the midst of the pandemic.
It comes after a rocky year for the billionaire, with Musk wiping $15 billion off his net worth due to a botched Tesla showcase. It's not taken him long to get back on top, and considering he was only worth $27 billion at the start of 2020, he could soon overtake Mansa Musa's all-time worth. After all, what's $70 billion between friends?