How much of Musk’s wealth comes from government help? Virtually all of it. | CNN Business

Elon Musk has many people to thank for becoming the world’s first trillionaire — his companies’ engineers who produced technological breakthroughs, Wall Street investors who were eager to shower him with their dollars despite questionable financials, but most of all, American taxpayers and government policymakers. “There would not be (Tesla and SpaceX) if it weren’t for the government,” said Ross Gerber, CEO of investment firm Gerber Kawasaki and an early investor in Tesla. The federal government awarded SpaceX more than $500 million worth of grants in its early years. And that $500 million is just a fraction of what Tesla received from government grants, loans, contracts and regulatory policies. That’s not to say SpaceX’s success and Tesla’s roughly $1.5 trillion valuation are entirely due to federal spending, but both companies teetered as startups before receiving taxpayer subsidies. The question of how much Musk’s $1 trillion net worth comes from the government is not as simple as it sounds. By some measures, only a small portion of his wealth is thanks to taxpayers. His companies have received “only” tens of billions from government contracts and progra