Elon Musk, the richest man in history – also compared to the wealthy of the past

Elon Musk has again crossed the trillion-dollar threshold, becoming the first person in history whose wealth reaches this sum. According to a MarketWatch analysis, his fortune is larger than that of the next three people on the global wealth ranking combined. In a historical comparison, his wealth is equivalent to about 3.1% of US GDP, a higher share than past tycoons like John D. Rockefeller (2.3%) and Andrew Carnegie (1.1%).

Elon Musk, the world's richest person, broke a historic record last week when he again crossed the trillion-dollar threshold, becoming the first person in history whose wealth reaches this sum. According to a MarketWatch analysis based on Bloomberg Billionaires Index data, Musk's fortune is larger than the combined wealth of the next three people on the global wealth ranking: Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. To examine this figure in a historical comparison, one must account for the change in the dollar's purchasing power over the years. One way to compare is to examine wealth relative to the US gross domestic product (GDP) of their era. Today, US GDP stands at about $32.5 trillion, while Musk's wealth is estimated at just over $1 trillion, or about 3.1% of GDP. For comparison, John D. Rockefeller's peak wealth reached about 2.3% of US GDP, and Andrew Carnegie's about 1.1%. The article notes that such historical comparisons are not an exact science and depend on the calculation method and estimates.