With the potential anointment of Elon Musk as the world’s first trillionaire on the horizon, Oxfam, the global organization fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice, released a new analysis today, “Trillionaire in the Making,” detailing Tesla’s impact on U.S. inequality as a key driver of Musk’s extreme wealth accumulation.
As of February 2026, Elon Musk’s net worth is already nearing $900 billion, and he is just under $200 billion shy of reaching trillionaire status, according to Forbes. A key driver of Musk’s extreme wealth in recent years is his ownership of Tesla, a company whose conduct has profoundly and systemically contributed to wealth and power inequality in the U.S. Using its Corporate Inequality Framework, Oxfam’s new analysis found that Tesla drives inequality by strategically using tax havens and federal loopholes; maintaining only an illusion of corporate oversight; adopting a selective approach to labor rights; and using Musk’s personal influence with the U.S. government to reduce regulatory scrutiny.
Thanks in part to Tesla, Elon Musk’s growing fortune is the largest in the world to date. Oxfam’s analysis found that, with $1 trillion, Musk could:
- Cover the GDPs of entire countries. For example, his net worth would be greater than the GDP of wealthy countries like Switzerland, which stands at $936 billion as of 2024.
- Pay off the total public debt of 31 of the world’s poorest countries that are either in or at high risk of debt distress — currently $205 billion — and still walk away with more than three-fourths of his fortune.
- Gift $1 billion each to 1,000 people, increasing the global number of billionaires by over 30%, from 3,028 to over 4,000.
- Pay the salaries of all 535 members of the U.S. House of Representatives for the next 10,742 years.
“No single person should be this close to accumulating $1 trillion, and Musk’s obscene fortune is certainly not the byproduct of only hard work or talent. Much of his personal wealth is the direct result of a broken system rigged by corporate greed, exploitation, and extraction. But the problem doesn’t stop at Musk or Tesla, and it shouldn't distract us from the oligarchic concentration of power that is dangerously spiralling across our economy. It’s time we overhaul our political system to stop serving billionaires and the corporations they control, and start holding them accountable,” said Irit Tamir, Oxfam America’s senior director of corporate accountability and worker justice.
Even reaching the $1 trillion mark is unlikely to be the end of Musk’s unprecedented wealth accumulation. Last November, a majority of Tesla’s shareholders approved a staggering compensation package potentially worth up to an additional $1 trillion over the next decade. Musk’s impending trillionaire status does not even account for this pay package. This, in addition to February’s news that Musk-owned SpaceX acquired xAI ahead of its planned IPO, will continue to catapult Musk into a whole new stratosphere of wealth.
Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. We offer lifesaving support in times of crisis and advocate for economic justice, gender equality, and climate action. We demand equal rights and equal treatment so that everyone can thrive, not just survive. The future is equal. Join us at oxfamamerica.org.
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Notes to editors:
Download Oxfam’s media brief, “Trillionaire in the Making: How Tesla turbocharged Musk's fortune and US inequality,” here.
Data on Elon Musk’s wealth is from the Forbes Real Time Billionaires List.