Elon Musk to Become the World’s Richerest Man

There he goes again.

Elon Musk — that hyperkinetic maker of reusable launch vehicles and spaceships (yea!), electric cars (boo!), and the occasional underground highway (what?) — is, on most days, the richest man in the world. He and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are locked neck-and-neck for that title, with France's Anrault family closing in.

The Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today shows Musk in the number-one spot at about $220 billion and Bezos not far behind at $212 billion. If it weren't for Bezos's questionable investments in kitschy cowboy hats and AVN Awards attire for his girlfriend, Lauren Sánchez, he'd probably be up somewhere around $240 billion.

But that's today. Someday soon, Bloomberg reported late Wednesday, Musk will likely upend the race with a SpaceX insider share sale that will increase his net worth by untold billions more. When Bloomberg first reported on a possible private sale in December, share prices were reported to be at $97, at an estimated $180 billion valuation for the company.

He'll become the world's richerest man. That's a word now, I assure you.

It's been a very good six months or so for SpaceX since that initial report, however. Yesterday, the firm was awarded a massive $843 million contract to de-orbit the International Space Station. Only built to last until 2030, a new SpaceX "space tug" will maneuver the ISS out of orbit to burn up in the atmosphere. Any surviving bits and pieces should hit safely in the emptiest parts of the South Pacific.

NASA will run the mission and, if I had to guess, the tug will be based on the proven Dragon 2 cargo vehicle — which means Musk ought to have no problem delivering it on time and with plenty of profit.

The company's Starlink low earth orbit internet service began generating breakeven cash flow late last year and is expected to generate $600 million in positive cash flow this year. Starlink continues to sign up new customers around the world and one analyst recently called the SpaceX project's rise "nothing short of mind-blowing."

Most importantly for the company going forward, they've had two forward-moving flight tests of the Next Big Thing in spaceflight, the SpaceX Starship, with another one tentatively set for the first week of July. If Starship succeeds as planned, it could reduce the launch cost into orbit from about $1,000/kilogram (2.2 pounds) for a Falcon Super Heavy to maybe as low as $10/kilogram.

Falcon Heavy is already the cheapest way to get big mass into orbit. Starship could beat that by two orders of magnitude, opening up space for... well... almost any and everything.

Put all those things together, and what do you get?

Those insider shares are now expected to go for $112 at a SpaceX valuation of $210 Billion. The company isn't going public, so this new tender will be for only some small (ish?) fraction. Still, as the majority owner, Musk stands to add to his considerable (ahem) net worth.

I would love to get my hands on just one share, primarily for sentimental reasons (Longtime Sharp VodkaPundit Readers™ know I'm a lifelong space nut) and bragging rights. Alas, I am not an insider.

But if you happen to know somebody, or even just know somebody who knows somebody... let's talk.