Elon Musk is worth almost $1 trillion, but his definition of being happy is simple. Forbes Middle East shared a graphic that quotes Musk as saying that when things are going well with his family and at work, he is happy. Here is what he has said about happiness before, and how the money side stacks up.
The Forbes real-time list put Musk’s net worth at $979.7 billion on Friday, October 2, after SpaceX and Tesla shares rose, Forbes reported. Most of the fortune is tied to SpaceX, where he owns 38% including options, according to Forbes’ profile of him. He has cofounded seven companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI.
The formula is not new. On Bill Maher’s show in 2023, Musk said that someone who is happy in love and loves their work will be fully happy, and that having only one of the two makes you half happy, Yahoo Finance reported. He also said on a podcast last November that happiness comes from meaningful work and strong relationships.
Not always happy
Earlier this year, when a user on X asked whether Musk is actually happier than everyone else or just louder, he replied, “I am not often happy”, Yahoo Finance reported.
Fortune reported in February that Musk admitted money cannot buy happiness, when his fortune was about $850 billion. Fellow billionaire Mark Cuban said the picture is not so simple.
Family has been in the headlines this week. Shivon Zilis, the mother of four of his children, said Musk ended their relationship, which we covered in our earlier story. Forbes counts at least 14 children with four women. At the time of that story, Musk had not responded. In a 2015 talk, Musk said he does not see his children as much as he would like, but can be with them while working, Forbes reported.
