Elon Musk doesn't have a piggy bank. He doesn't even really have a "bank account" in the way you or I do, where a direct deposit hits every two weeks and we figure out which bills to pay. Honestly, if you looked at his liquid cash, he’s often what billionaire-watchers call "cash poor."
It sounds ridiculous. How can the richest person on Earth be broke?
Well, he isn't. Not even close. As of January 2026, Musk’s net worth is dancing around the $700 billion mark, according to Forbes and Bloomberg. But the way he actually builds that wealth is weird. It’s not about a salary. It’s about owning giant pieces of the future and waiting for the rest of us to decide those pieces are worth a fortune.
The Tesla Engine: How does Elon Musk make his money without a salary?
If you want to understand how does elon musk make his money, you have to look at his "pay packages." Most CEOs get a base salary of maybe $1 million plus bonuses. Musk famously takes $0 in salary from Tesla. Instead, he gambles.
In 2018, he signed a deal that everyone thought was insane. He would only get paid if Tesla’s market cap hit nearly impossible milestones. It did. Recently, after a massive legal back-and-forth in Delaware, the courts finally restored his right to that $56 billion package in late 2025.
But wait, there's more.
Tesla shareholders just greenlit a new 2025 performance award. This one is even bigger. It’s designed to reward Musk for turning Tesla from a car company into an AI and robotics powerhouse. We’re talking about the potential for $1 trillion in total compensation over the next decade. He doesn't get a check for this. He gets "options." Basically, he gets the right to buy Tesla stock at a dirt-cheap price from years ago, even when the current market price is 10 times higher.
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When he exercises those options, his net worth explodes. He makes money by making the company more valuable for everyone else, then taking his "cut" in the form of more ownership.
SpaceX and the Starlink Cash Cow
While Tesla is the public face of his wealth, SpaceX is the sleeping giant. Musk owns roughly 42% of SpaceX.
Unlike Tesla, SpaceX isn't on the stock market yet, though rumors of a 2026 IPO are everywhere. Right now, its value is determined by private funding rounds. In late 2025, the company was valued at roughly $250 billion. When SpaceX goes up in value, Musk’s "paper wealth" goes up too.
Then there's Starlink.
This is the satellite internet service that basically has a monopoly on high-speed internet in the middle of nowhere. It’s finally profitable. By early 2026, Starlink reached over 7 million subscribers. That’s steady, recurring revenue—the kind of "boring" money that builds empires. SpaceX has signed over $20 billion in government contracts. Every time a Falcon 9 launches, Musk’s equity becomes more "real."
The xAI Pivot and the "X" Factor
Remember when everyone said Musk overpaid for Twitter? They were right. He paid $44 billion for it in 2022. For a while, its value plummeted. But Musk did something clever—he used X (the platform) as a data goldmine for his new company, xAI.
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Here is the breakdown of his newest money-maker:
- xAI Holdings: Musk owns about 53% of this.
- The Colossus Supercluster: His massive AI data center in Memphis is the "brain" making xAI valuable.
- Valuation: xAI is currently valued at roughly $80 billion, with some analysts pushing it toward $230 billion if it integrates deeper with X and Tesla.
Essentially, he’s making money by creating an ecosystem. X provides the data. xAI provides the intelligence. Tesla and SpaceX provide the hardware. It’s a closed loop where every company feeds the others.
The "Cash Poor" Reality
So, how does he buy a sandwich? Or a private jet?
Since he doesn't have a salary, Musk often borrows money against his stock. This is a common billionaire move. Instead of selling Tesla shares (which would trigger a massive tax bill), he goes to a bank and says, "I have $300 billion in Tesla stock. Give me a $500 million loan at a low interest rate."
He uses that loan to live his life. When the loan is due, he might sell a tiny bit of stock to pay it off, or just take out a new loan. This keeps him in control of his companies while giving him the cash to operate. It’s a high-wire act. If the stock price crashes, the banks can call in those loans—something that nearly happened during the messy Twitter takeover.
What most people get wrong about his wealth
People often think Musk has billions sitting in a vault like Scrooge McDuck. He doesn't. His wealth is entirely dependent on the perceived future value of his companies. If people stop believing that Tesla will solve Full Self-Driving or that SpaceX will get to Mars, his wealth could vanish overnight.
He also invests in "moonshots" that don't make money yet:
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- Neuralink: Brain-computer interfaces. High cost, zero current profit.
- The Boring Company: Tunneling tech. Mostly small-scale projects for now.
These are bets. He takes the money he "made" from PayPal (his first big win) and Tesla, and he dumps it into these high-risk ventures.
Actionable Takeaway: How to think like a Musk-style investor
You probably don't have $700 billion, but the way Musk makes his money offers a few lessons for regular people:
- Equity over Salary: Real wealth is built through ownership, not hourly wages. Whether it's a 401(k), a small business, or a few shares of a company you believe in, owning assets is the only way to outpace inflation.
- High-Conviction Betting: Musk doesn't diversify much. He puts all his eggs in a few very large baskets. For most of us, "diversification" is safer, but "concentration" is how you get rich. Pick one or two things you understand deeply and lean in.
- The Power of Ecosystems: Don't just look at one income stream. Look at how your skills or investments can support each other.
If you're tracking Musk's moves in 2026, keep your eye on the SpaceX IPO. That will be the moment his "paper money" becomes "real money" on a scale the world has never seen before. Until then, he'll keep borrowing, building, and betting on the end of the world—or at least the start of a new one.