Elon Musk has suffered the largest personal wealth loss in recorded history after a dramatic collapse in SpaceX’s share price wiped an estimated $350 billion from his net worth in less than a week, sending his fortune tumbling from an all-time high of approximately $1.45 trillion to around $1.1 trillion as of Monday, June 23, 2026.

The staggering erosion of wealth was driven almost entirely by a steep and sustained selloff in SpaceX shares, which had only recently made their public market debut. SpaceX priced its initial public offering on June 12 at $135 per share, and within days the stock surged nearly 40 percent above that price, briefly valuing the company at close to $3 trillion and pushing Musk’s personal fortune to its historic peak.

The euphoria was short-lived. By Monday, SpaceX shares had plunged more than 31 percent from their June 16 peak of $225.64, falling to under $155 per share below the stock’s first-day closing price of $160. The selloff alone wiped approximately $152 billion from Musk’s fortune in a single trading session, a one-day loss that exceeded the entire net worth of legendary investor Warren Buffett.

Musk holds roughly a 38 percent stake in SpaceX, comprising around 4.8 billion shares and additional stock options, making him acutely exposed to the company’s volatile post-IPO trading. SpaceX’s market capitalisation has shed approximately $928 billion from its June 16 peak of around $2.99 trillion, slipping to roughly $2 trillion by Monday. The company, which had briefly ranked as the fourth-largest in the world by market capitalisation, has now fallen to seventh place globally, behind the likes of TSMC.

Several factors are believed to have contributed to the selloff. An ongoing Federal Aviation Administration investigation into a Starship test flight anomaly reported on May 28 has cast a shadow over the company’s near-term launch ambitions.

The incident, in which the Starship vehicle came down in the Indian Ocean, prompted the FAA to launch a formal review, grounding subsequent flights while the inquiry proceeds. Additionally, KeyBanc Capital Markets initiated coverage of SpaceX with a neutral rating, signalling to the market that the risk-reward profile of the stock was no longer as attractive following its explosive post-IPO run. Meanwhile, Tesla shares were up modestly on Monday, providing only a marginal buffer against the SpaceX-driven losses.

Despite the historic scale of the decline, Musk remains comfortably the wealthiest person on earth, retaining his status as the world’s first and only trillionaire. The runner-up, Google co-founder Larry Page, is worth approximately $286.5 billion less than a quarter of Musk’s current fortune even after the losses. Musk had become a trillionaire following SpaceX’s IPO in mid-June, a milestone that drew global attention and fresh calls from US lawmakers for a wealth tax. The $350 billion decline, while record-breaking in absolute terms, has done little to alter that fundamental reality only the number has changed.