Musk Predicts Money Will Be Worthless in 10 Years; Nobel Laureate Challenges Him to Give It All Away
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has made another sweeping prediction about the future of human society. In an interview this month, Musk said artificial intelligence would surpass the combined intelligence of all humanity within five years. By 2036, he said, an extreme surge in productivity driven by AI and robots would make goods and services more abundant than ever, rendering “money” in its traditional sense completely meaningless. Daron Acemoglu, the 2024 Nobel Prize winner in economics, subsequently challenged Musk on social media: If Musk is so certain that money will be useless in 10 years, why not donate his entire fortune now? Musk, who has long been dismissive of traditional philanthropy, gave an unexpected response: “I do plan to do something like that!” Musk has repeatedly criticized conventional charitable giving as inefficient and has publicly mocked Bill Gates’ foundation model. He has generally argued that capital should remain invested in his own companies—including Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink—to advance multiplanetary survival and the transition to sustainable energy, which he considers the best way to benefit humanity. His latest comment appears to break with that logic, which he has consistently maintained in recent years. Recently, two of Musk’s core assets have come under pressure at the same time. On the evening of July 28 Beijing time, SpaceX shares fell as low as $107.01 intraday, more than 20% below their $135 IPO price and more than 50% below the post-listing high of $225.64. The stock ultimately closed higher that day. On July 29, however, SpaceX opened lower and closed at $112.50, down 3.32%, giving the company a latest market capitalization of $1.47 trillion. Based on SpaceX’s peak valuation of about $2.6 trillion near the start of its listing, the company’s market capitalization has fallen by about $1.2 trillion—roughly the equivalent of losing an entire Tesla. Meanwhile, Tesla shares fell 14.52% the day after the company released its second-quarter earnings, closing at $319.69. It was the stock’s largest one-day decline in more than a year. Tesla’s market value fell by about $214.5 billion in a single day, equivalent to roughly 1.5 trillion yuan, making it the worst-performing component of the S&P 500 that day. Tesla continued to decline on the evening of July 29 Beijing time, closing at $298.30, down 2.97%, with a latest market capitalization of $1.17 trillion. Viewed only through revenue and delivery figures, the earnings report was not particularly weak. Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, a record high for the period, while revenue reached $28.24 billion, up 26% year over year and also above market expectations. But investors’ focus has shifted. As spending on AI, robotaxis, Optimus and related infrastructure continues to rise, Tesla’s second-quarter capital expenditures reached $5.8 billion, while free cash flow turned negative at $1.1 billion. That was the company’s first quarter of negative free cash flow in more than two years. Tesla also maintained its guidance for full-year capital expenditures of more than $25 billion, nearly three times the previous year’s level. Public ownership data show that Musk holds about 13% of Tesla and about 42% of SpaceX. When SpaceX shares surged at the beginning of its listing, Musk’s personal net worth briefly exceeded $1.4 trillion, securing his position as the world’s richest person by a wide margin. More than 90% of his net worth is concentrated in SpaceX and Tesla, leaving his wealth highly dependent on share-price movements. As SpaceX’s market value was cut roughly in half and Tesla continued to decline, Musk’s wealth quickly fell below $1 trillion. Forbes’ real-time data put his latest net worth at $706.4 billion. He went from being the world’s first “trillionaire” back into the “hundred-billion-dollar club,” a decline that was nearly a halving. Facing the rapid reduction in his wealth, Musk joked on social media on July 25 that he was a “(former) trillionaire.” The claims and market figures in this report were attributed in the source to Red Star News and publicly available ownership and Forbes data.
Daron Acemoglu, the 2024 Nobel Prize winner in economics, subsequently challenged Musk on social media: If Musk is so certain that money will be useless in 10 years, why not donate his entire fortune now?
Musk, who has long been dismissive of traditional philanthropy, gave an unexpected response: “I do plan to do something like that!”
Musk has repeatedly criticized conventional charitable giving as inefficient and has publicly mocked Bill Gates’ foundation model. He has generally argued that capital should remain invested in his own companies—including Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink—to advance multiplanetary survival and the transition to sustainable energy, which he considers the best way to benefit humanity. His latest comment appears to break with that logic, which he has consistently maintained in recent years.
Recently, two of Musk’s core assets have come under pressure at the same time.
On the evening of July 28 Beijing time, SpaceX shares fell as low as $107.01 intraday, more than 20% below their $135 IPO price and more than 50% below the post-listing high of $225.64. The stock ultimately closed higher that day. On July 29, however, SpaceX opened lower and closed at $112.50, down 3.32%, giving the company a latest market capitalization of $1.47 trillion.
Based on SpaceX’s peak valuation of about $2.6 trillion near the start of its listing, the company’s market capitalization has fallen by about $1.2 trillion—roughly the equivalent of losing an entire Tesla.
Meanwhile, Tesla shares fell 14.52% the day after the company released its second-quarter earnings, closing at $319.69. It was the stock’s largest one-day decline in more than a year. Tesla’s market value fell by about $214.5 billion in a single day, equivalent to roughly 1.5 trillion yuan, making it the worst-performing component of the S&P 500 that day. Tesla continued to decline on the evening of July 29 Beijing time, closing at $298.30, down 2.97%, with a latest market capitalization of $1.17 trillion.
Viewed only through revenue and delivery figures, the earnings report was not particularly weak. Tesla delivered 480,126 vehicles worldwide in the second quarter, a record high for the period, while revenue reached $28.24 billion, up 26% year over year and also above market expectations.
But investors’ focus has shifted. As spending on AI, robotaxis, Optimus and related infrastructure continues to rise, Tesla’s second-quarter capital expenditures reached $5.8 billion, while free cash flow turned negative at $1.1 billion. That was the company’s first quarter of negative free cash flow in more than two years. Tesla also maintained its guidance for full-year capital expenditures of more than $25 billion, nearly three times the previous year’s level.
Public ownership data show that Musk holds about 13% of Tesla and about 42% of SpaceX. When SpaceX shares surged at the beginning of its listing, Musk’s personal net worth briefly exceeded $1.4 trillion, securing his position as the world’s richest person by a wide margin. More than 90% of his net worth is concentrated in SpaceX and Tesla, leaving his wealth highly dependent on share-price movements.
As SpaceX’s market value was cut roughly in half and Tesla continued to decline, Musk’s wealth quickly fell below $1 trillion. Forbes’ real-time data put his latest net worth at $706.4 billion. He went from being the world’s first “trillionaire” back into the “hundred-billion-dollar club,” a decline that was nearly a halving.
Facing the rapid reduction in his wealth, Musk joked on social media on July 25 that he was a “(former) trillionaire.” The claims and market figures in this report were attributed in the source to Red Star News and publicly available ownership and Forbes data.