How rich is Elon Musk? Astrophysicist shares geeky visualisation

Controversy’s favourite billionaire and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, wants to colonize Mars, which is about 225 million kilometres away from Earth. Whether or not that happens, by lining up his $330bn wealth, Musk can circle the earth thrice and reach the Moon, covering a total distance of more than 5,14,000kms(319,000 miles). American astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson has come up with a unique and unconventional method of quantifying the magnitude of Musk’s wealth. 

Not that anybody asked, but if @ElonMusk’s wealth as of today ($330B) were entirely hundred-dollar bills, then laid end-to-end, they’d circle Earth three times, and with what’s left over, if taped end-to-end, will make a ribbon long enough to ascend into space and reach the Moon. pic.twitter.com/WZumj9abaH

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 7, 2025

“If Elon Musk’s wealth as of today ($330bn) were entirely hundred-dollar bills, then laid end-to-end, they’d circle the Earth three times, and with what’s left over, if taped end-to-end, will make a ribbon long enough to ascend into space and reach the Moon,” reads Tyson’s post on the Musk-owned X platform(formerly Twitter).

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To put this in perspective, here are the approximate numbers. The Earth-Moon distance is between 3,84,000kms and 4,00,000kms(When taped into a vertical ribbon, part of Musk’s wealth in $100 bills can cover this distance between the Earth and Moon). The Earth’s circumference is approximately 40,000 kms, which Musk’s remaining wealth in $100 bills can cover thrice, that’s 1,20,000 kms. 

If you’d like to do the math and verify it yourself, don’t sweat. AI tool Perplexity has shared the calculation in response to a social media user’s query. According to Perplexity AI, a $100 bill is 0.156 meters long(about 15 cms). Musk’s wealth of $330 billion in $100 bills would be 5,14,800kms long(3.3 billion multiplied by 0.156 meters).

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Perplexity adds that 5,14,800kms is adequate to form a circle around the earth 12.85 times. Alternatively, it could be used to circle the earth three times (approx 120,225kms) and then reach the moon, which is about 384,800 kms away from Earth. This goes on to prove that Neil deGrasse Tyson’s calculation is tack sharp! 

This geeky picturization of Musk’s wealth comes at a time when the billionaire is estimated to have lost $100bn in recent months, owing to the backlash against his EV brand Tesla and the widespread opposition to Musk’s political activities, public behaviour. Despite having lost an estimated $100bn, Musk continues to lead the world’s rich list by a huge margin with his present $330bn. Jeff Bezos, who is second on the rich list, is worth about $190bn.