Elon Musk has become the first person in history to amass a fortune of more than $500bn, cementing his position as the world’s richest individual. Musk’s net worth briefly touched $500.1bn on Wednesday afternoon, according to reports, before easing back slightly to just over $499bn by the close of New York trading.

The surge in wealth reflects gains at car manufacturer, Tesla, of which Musk still owns more than 12%, as well as rising valuations for his other ventures, including SpaceX and artificial intelligence (AI) startup, xAI. Tesla shares climbed more than 3% on Wednesday and are up over 20% since the start of the year, helped by investor confidence in Musk’s renewed focus on the company.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison ranks a distant second on the global billionaires index with around $350.7bn. Ellison briefly overtook the South African-born Musk last month after Oracle shares soared more than 40% on the back of stronger-than-expected cloud storage and AI prospects.

Musk’s standing at Tesla has also been reinforced by a potential $1tn pay package tied to ambitious long-term targets, including selling millions of cars and AI robots, and boosting the firm’s value eightfold. Last month, he purchased about $1bn worth of Tesla shares, a move interpreted by investors as a vote of confidence in the company’s future.

The milestone highlights Musk’s dominance in the tech and automotive sectors, even as Tesla continues to face stiff competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers and shifts toward becoming a broader AI and robotics business.