American billionaire Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy Twitter, now known as X, and also spent $130 million to support Donald Trump in his election campaign.
Since Trump's victory in the US elections last week, the Tesla CEO's wealth has jumped by about $70 billion.
Most of Musk's wealth gains came from his holdings in Tesla, and those gains came in just four sessions, as the electric car maker's stock rose 39% to take its market value past $1 trillion.
Musk's fortune has reached $320 billion, about $90 billion higher than Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is in second place, according to Forbes estimates.
Meanwhile, Ellison, a close friend of Musk and former Tesla board member, is a major Republican donor, and Oracle shares gained about 10% with Trump's victory, boosting his net worth by about $20 billion.
Musk has offered support to swing states, and has used the X platform to repeatedly support Trump throughout his campaign.
Trump now appears poised to reap the rewards of his support for Trump. After his re-election, Musk joined Trump on a phone call with the Ukrainian president, according to NBC. Other media reports have suggested that Musk is weighing in on hiring decisions in the next administration and has spent a lot of time at Trump’s Florida resort since his election.
The Tesla CEO also conducted a survey for 200 million X users asking them about the best choice for Senate majority leader.
How does Musk's empire benefit?
Musk has long sought to reduce regulatory power so he can remove barriers to his sprawling empire, which includes Tesla, X, SpaceX, xAI and Neuralink.
These companies are currently embroiled in a series of investigations and lawsuits by federal agencies related to violations of securities law, workplace safety, and labor and civil rights.
Given the executive branch’s control over federal regulators, Musk is likely looking to the FBI and intelligence agencies to end some or all of the 19 federal investigations and lawsuits against Tesla, SpaceX and Tesla.
