Rex Lin

I think people need to reframe the conversation around Elon’s “net worth.” As his net worth approaches $1 trillion, it’s important to understand the bigger picture. Elon earned his wealth the right way: by building companies and creating products and services that people genuinely love, while generating enormous shareholder value. He didn’t steal. He didn’t cheat. He built and created. Elon isn’t accumulating wealth to buy yachts, houses, or vacations. His capital is primarily a tool to pursue outcomes he believes are best for humanity’s long-term future, most notably making life multi-planetary. Building on Mars will be expensive, and much of Elon's wealth will ultimately go towards that, but he’s also investing heavily here on Earth, having created over 600,000 jobs so far across his companies and supply chains. Elon is the best capital allocator in the world, and has created multiple world-changing technologies that have benefited humanity. That’s why it’s ironic when some people say he should pay more taxes (almost all of his wealth is unrealized stock gains), because that capital would simply be redirected to the government, one of the worst capital allocators. He paid the single largest tax bill in history in 2021 ($11B) and will likely pay an even bigger one in the future when he exercises the stock options from his 2018 Tesla CEO Performance Award, which are set to expire in January 2028. The villainization of Elon by legacy media and others will only intensify as his wealth grows. Instead, what they should focus on is the massive value he has created for others and all the good his companies are doing: • Tesla: Accelerating toward a sustainable future and saving lives with self-driving cars • Neuralink: Improving the lives of disabled people with brain-implant chips • SpaceX/Starlink: Bringing internet connectivity to remote areas worldwide • The Boring Company: Reducing traffic and travel time • xAI/Grok: Using AI to solve problems, answer questions, and tackle challenges • And much more Don’t measure Elon by his wealth. Measure him by what he has built, what he’s creating/building, and all the things that wouldn’t exist without him. That list is long.