Over a longer stretch
From his first appearance on the list, $2 billion in March 2012, to $839 billion in March 2026, his fortune grew by an average of $1,896 a second over 14 years. The last year was much faster than the average, which is why the two numbers are so far apart.
It is not a salary
Almost none of it is pay. It is the rising value of shares he already owns, mostly in SpaceX and Tesla, so it only exists on paper until he sells, and it can go backwards: his fortune fell between the lists in 2016 and 2023. On a bad day for the shares he loses far more than this rate in seconds.
Where the figures come from
Both are his entries on the Forbes World’s Billionaires list, published each March. Every year’s figure, with its source, is on History.