'This Is OIigarchy': While Job Market Sinks, Musk Aims to Become First Trillionaire

The US job market has ground to a near halt, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday estimating that the economy produced an average of fewer than 30,000 jobs over the last three months.

However, not every American is feeling economic strain, as The New York Times reported on Friday that the board of electric car maker Tesla has unveiled a proposed compensation package for CEO Elon Musk that could make him the world's first trillionaire.

As the Times wrote, Musk could become worth $1 trillion so long as he boosts Tesla's share value "eightfold over the next decade" and as long as he stays at the company for at least that period.

Musk, who is already the world's richest man with a net worth of over $400 billion, would be left owning 29% of Tesla as part of the package, which the Times noted would be "an extraordinary level of control for a chief executive."

The report did add, however, that it will be very hard for Musk to achieve the full value of the compensation package given the intense competition that has emerged in the electric vehicle market and the damage Musk has inflicted on the Tesla brand with his embrace of far-right politics that have resulted in plunging car sales around the world.

Warren Gunnels, a top adviser to US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), observed on Musk's platform X that the billionaire's massive increase in wealth in the middle of a stalling job market was not a fluke, as several other tech billionaires have also seen their fortunes grow over the last three months.

"In the same 3 months [as the economy averaged under 30,000 jobs created per month]: Musk became $21 billion richer. He’s worth $435 billion," wrote Gunnels.

Gunnels also noted that:

• Oracle founder Larry Ellison became $69 billion richer. He's worth $277 billion.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg became $19 billion richer. He's worth $257 billion.
• Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became $22 billion richer. He’s worth $245 billion.

"This is oligarchy," Gunnels concluded.

On Wednesday this week, global wealth intelligence firm Altrata released a new report estimating that the total number of billionaires in the US had increased from 927 in 2020 to 1,135 last year, with a collective net worth totaling $5.7 trillion. The top 100 billionaires in the US had a net worth totaling $3.86 trillion, Altrata estimated, with just three of these billionaires—Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg—accounting for nearly $1 trillion in net worth.