How Elon Musk spent 2024 getting richer and more powerful than ever

• Elon Musk is the world's first $400 billion person.

• It's not just his wealth that increased in 2024.

• Thanks to Donald Trump, Musk will enter 2025 with unprecedented power.

Elon Musk is more than just the world's richest person.

He's also the self-proclaimed "First Buddy" of President-elect Donald Trump, who will soon return to his position as leader of the free world. Trump has named Musk as co-leader of "The Department of Government Efficiency," giving the tech titan major sway over federal spending.

Like many moments in Musk's life, it's a remarkable turnaround story.

2024 began with Musk briefly relinquishing his wealthiest title, first to French luxury titan Bernard Arnault and then to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Musk's rival in space travel.

Musk had also backed the wrong candidate. In early 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who Musk had aligned himself with, abruptly ended his campaign after Trump blew him out in the Iowa Republican caucuses. By March, Trump, trying to orchestrate his own comeback, privately met with Musk to ask for his financial support. In response, Musk said his checkbook was closed.

He changed his mind, spending over $277 million backing Trump and the GOP. Musk even campaigned for Trump in Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state.

Musk's wealth surged after the 2024 election election. His big bet is still paying off.

January: Musk visited Auschwitz amid an uproar

Musk ended 2023 under siege. In what he later called his "dumbest" tweet ever, the billionaire promoted an antisemitic post. Media Matters, a liberal nonprofit, accused X of placing ads next to pro-Nazi content, allegations that sent advertisers fleeing the platform.

He apologized for the post but lashed out at advertisers, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, telling them "to go fuck" themselves.

In late January, Musk accepted an invitation to visit the site of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Afterward, he said he had been "naive" about the Holocaust.

February: Musk returned to the Super Bowl

Musk had a prime seat to watch the Kansas City Chiefs win their second-straight Super Bowl.

This was Musk's first big game since reports surfaced that he spent the 2023 Super Bowl frustrated that President Joe Biden's tweet received more engagement than his own. According to Platformer, Musk pressured Twitter engineers to begin working on ensuring that his future posts would get much larger exposure.

March: X abruptly ended a deal with Don Lemon after a testy interview