Elon Musk vs King Solomon - Who's Wealthier?
Elon has recently been crowned the richest person in the world -richer than 81% of all the countries - that's right countries (only 42 out of the 211 countries have a GDP of more than $325b). But how does that compare to one of the wealthiest kings of all time? King Solomon made silver worthless in his kingdom because of the abundance of gold.
Elon has been all over the news for the past - 12 months. With the soar of Tesla stock, the recent pitch to end world hunger from the UN, and Starship getting ready to launch, there is just a lot to be said.
On the other hand, we have King Solomon. David's youngest child just happened to be the wisest man in the history of the world. That much brainpower to bring on some massive wealth.
So who's richer? Solomon. Solomon is roughly 6x richer than Elon. Let's discuss why.
How this article came about is a funny and depressing story. I came across a site a few days ago. Let me show you how it works. You pick a billionaire and then buy stuff to see if you can dent their wealth. Although Elon is not on the list - his wealth would be 2x that of Bezos https://3pic.github.io/money.
Quick Highlights on Musk:
- Mom is a supermodel
- Sold first computer program at age 12
- First Billion in 2012
- CEO of 4 companies (currently)
$300B - How Elon Got His Paper 💵
The South African founded Paypal in 1999 and it was sold to eBay for $1.5b.
In 2002 he started SpaceX and only a year later Tesla.
He spent nearly a decade building both companies in rather silence until the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket - the first reusable rocket and the first time a private company sends payload into space. I don't want to go on a tangent here since space is my current field so let's move on to Tesla.
The first massive accomplishment for Tesla came in 2008. The Roadster, electric car reaching 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. They also launched the Model S to take on the M5. In 2013 it was named Car of the year and surpassed GM as the most valuable car company.
Later that year, in December 2013 - a Falcon 9 successfully carried a satellite to orbit. If you've never seen the Falcon 9 reel you should - it's breathtaking.
Valuations 📊
Tesla is currently valued at $1,081.92 a share (as of writing this) and Elon owns 17%. That's over $180b alone.
He owns roughly 50% of SpaceX which was recently valued as a $100b company. That would give him an additional $50b.
SpaceX has a much greater chance to make him a trillionaire quicker than through Tesla according to Morgan Stanley.
King Solomon 👑
Quick Highlights on Solomon:
- King David was his pops
- The wisest man in the history of the world
- He had more than 300 girl friends with benefits (concubines)
- He also had 700 wives. 🤯
Solomon was rich rich. A lot of that was because of his wisdom. His success was achieved through ingenious reforms and innovations such as the improvement to military operations; the expansion of the royal court; sophisticated taxation, labor conscriptions of Canaanites and Israelites, tributes and gifts from foreign countries under the influence of Solomon; and a land and sea trading system and trade routes.
According to the scriptures, “The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as abundant as the sycamores, which are in the lowland” (2 Chronicles 1).
$2T - How Solomon Got His Gold ⚱️
The Bible states that King Solomon held a fortune that dwarfed any and every person who lived before him. This made him the richest person ever lived in the world. He has four major income streams, commerce and trading, gifts, tribute, and of course taxes.
Commerce and trading
His partnership with Hiram also brought him, every three years, things like ivory, monkeys, apes, etc. (1Kings 10:22 - 23). The Jewish historian Josephus also wrote about his rich trading for gold and silver.
He also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber. Then Hiram (King of Tyre) sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there. (1Kings 9:26 - 28).
Gifts 🎁
The Bible says that everyone who came to inquire of the king's wisdom brought him a gift - either animals, spices, precious metals and so on (1Kings 10:25). Josephus also wrote about how rich Solomon was through the gold and other goods he received.
King Solomon reigned for 40 years. Each year, he received 25 tons of gold.
1 ton of gold is worth $64.3 Million dollars at $2000/oz Therefore, 25 tons times 40 years of his reign amounts to $64,300,800,000.
This did not include income derived from business, trade, nor the annual tribute paid to him by all of the kings and governors of Arabia.
Tribute
Tribute is money or goods paid by kingdoms or countries in acknowledgment of another country's superiority.
They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life . . . (1Kings 4:24).
Taxation
Rehoboam, after he assumed the throne of his father, traveled to the city of Shechem where many of the northern tribes of Israel gathered to make him king. The people told the king, in no uncertain terms, what his father required of them. Their response makes it clear that Rehoboam's father was rich, in part, off the backs of the people he ruled. but people always complain about taxes so 🤷🏻♂️.
Your father Solomon treated us harshly and placed heavy burdens (he taxed them heavily) on us (1Kings 12:4).
Elon has a long way to go before he gets to Solomon's level but the 50-year-old has a long way ahead of him.
