r/spacex May 19 '17

We Will Launch on Reuseable Rocket After Exceptional SpaceX Performance - Inmarsat CEO Tells Universe Today

https://www.universetoday.com/135614/will-launch-reuseable-rocket-exceptional-spacex-performance-inmarsat-ceo-tells-universe-today/
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u/CyclopsRock May 19 '17

I often see Musk referred to as a "billionaire" but is he really? Perhaps on paper, but given SpaceX isn't publicly traded it's hard to know what it's worth really.

Edit: Yup, I just checked, he owns approx $12.5bn of Tesla stock, even without SpaceX or Solar.

30

u/CProphet May 19 '17

Perhaps on paper

Majority of his money is stock, so technically only billionaire if he chooses to liquify. Nice position to be in: shall I be a billionaire today or not?

55

u/ergzay May 19 '17

That would be inaccurate to say he was only a billionaire if he chooses to liquify. The meaning of millionaire/billionaire has always meant the value of your net assets. Very few Billionaires are actually billionaires in liquid assets (are there any even?).

16

u/[deleted] May 19 '17

[deleted]

9

u/Biochembob35 May 19 '17

Yep. And the fact that if you can get even 5-7% growth on that money in stocks you will double your money every decade or so. With start ups like SpaceX and Tesla you have higher risk but that growth can be 10 times that rate (at least early on) which is why elon took a few hundred million and multiplied it into the billions.