Musk hits $500B net worth as Tesla plans trillion-dollar pay package

Elon Musk briefly became the first person in history to reach a net worth of $500 billion on Wednesday, a milestone driven by a sharp rise in Tesla shares and higher valuations of his other business interests, according to a real-time billionaire tracker. The wealth tracker showed his net worth peak at about $500.1 billion before dipping back below the half trillion mark later that day.

The jump in Musk’s fortune was tied primarily to gains in Tesla stock, which has risen substantially this year, pushing up the market value of the holdings he controls. Musk also derives significant value from his stakes in SpaceX and other ventures, and recent private share movements and valuation updates for those companies have further boosted his estimated wealth. The surge returned Musk to the top of global rich lists, leaving him roughly $150 billion ahead of the next-ranked billionaire at the time of the peak.

The wealth milestone arrives as Tesla seeks shareholder approval for an unprecedented long-term compensation package for Musk that, if all performance targets are met over the coming decade, could be valued at up to $1 trillion. Tesla’s proxy filing outlines aggressive operational...