Elon Musk became the first whose fortune reached $500 billion. At the same time, his company SpaceX lost to OpenAI, which received a valuation of a similar amount - $500 billion - after the secondary sale of employee shares for $6.6 billion. Now the ChatGPT developer is the most expensive private company in the world. Thanks to the partnership with OpenAI, the quotes of South Korean Samsung and SK Hynix jumped up. These and other topics are in our review of the key events for the morning of October 2.

Elon Musk has become the first person with a $500 billion fortune

Elon Musk's fortune has reached a record level of $500 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires. His capital increased by $9.3 billion during the day thanks to the growth of Tesla shares by almost 4%. Now Tesla is close to the historical maximum capitalization, and Musk's share in it is estimated at $191 billion. Additional drivers of his wealth are SpaceX, whose valuation rose to $400 billion, and the combined company xAI Holdings, where Musk owns more than half of the shares.

Since the start of the pandemic, the billionaire's fortune has increased more than 20-fold: in 2020 it was $24.6 billion, and by 2021 he had already become the richest man on the planet. If the pace continues, Musk could become the world's first trillionaire by 2033, Forbes notes.

OpenAI has become the most valuable private company in the world

OpenAI has completed a secondary transaction, allowing current and former employees to sell shares for $6.6 billion at a company valuation of $500 billion, Bloomberg reports citing sources. Thus, the ChatGPT developer overtook Elon Musk's SpaceX and became the most expensive private company in the world. Earlier during the round led by SoftBank OpenAI received a valuation of $300 billion.

Employee stakes were bought by investors Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer, MGX and T. Rowe Price. Despite the authorization to sell more than $10 billion of securities, less was actually realized, which, according to the agency's sources, reflects the staff's confidence in the company's future.

Samsung and SK Hynix shares soar on OpenAI deal

Shares of Samsung Electronics jumped 4.7% and SK Hynix - 12%, hitting all-time highs after announcing a partnership with OpenAI on the U.S. $500 billion Stargate project, Reuters reports. Their growth added $37 billion to capitalization and supported the Kospi index rally - it jumped more than 3% to a record high.

The agreement provides for joint supplies of chips and the construction of two data centers in South Korea with a capacity of 20 MW. Seoul hopes to turn the country into an Asian AI center, while OpenAI strengthens its position in the second market after the US in terms of the number of paid ChatGPT users.

The partnership could also affect trade talks between Seoul and Washington. South Korea plans to formalize by the end of October a tentative deal reached with Donald Trump over the summer. It provides for duty reductions in exchange for $350 billion of investment in the U.S., but negotiations are still stalled due to disagreements over currency risks, the agency said.

Fermi debuted on the Nasdaq with the stock up 55%

Shares of Fermi, a real estate investment trust (REIT) that operates in the energy sector, rose 55% on the first day of trading on the Nasdaq following a $682.5 million IPO that valued the company at $19.3 billion, Bloomberg reports. The AI boom is attracting investors to companies that can supply the growing demand for data centers, and Fermi was another way to bet on that, though the company is young and has no revenue yet, the agency noted.

Fermi is developing the Maador project in Texas - a 5,000+ acre campus - and plans to add 1GW of capacity by the end of next year and 11GW by 2038 through gas, solar and nuclear. The company's shareholders include co-founder and former U.S. Department of Energy chief Rick Perry ($540 million stake) and CEO Toby Neugebauer (controlling stake of more than $4.5 billion).

What's in the markets

- Japan's broad Topix index was little changed, with the Nikkei 225 jumping 1%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index rose 2.9%, while the Kosdaq small-company index rose 1%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.3 percent.

- Futures on the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent, and contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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