Elon Musk is on track to quadruple his wealth and become the world’s first dollar trillionaire in just three years, new research suggests.

The South African-born entrepreneur, 53, who owns companies ranging from Tesla to X, formerly known as Twitter, is already ranked as the richest person in the world.

The SpaceX founder has a net worth of $251 billion (£191 billion), according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, which is growing at a rate of 110 per cent a year.

If his wealth continues to grow at the same rate, Mr Musk will be the world’s first US dollar trillionaire by 2027, according to data from research company Informa Connect Academy.

Mr Musk’s first significant business venture was in 1995 when he founded Zip2, a company which provided maps and business directories to online newspapers.

Zip2 sold for $307 million just four years later.

Mr. Musk then became a co-founder of X(dot)com, later known as PayPal, the platform which allows users to spend, send and receive money online.

After the turn of the century, Mr Musk became the largest investor in and CEO of Tesla, a pioneering electric vehicle maker.

He also launched rocket producer SpaceX.

Both companies have been hugely successful, especially Tesla, which has a very high growth rate. Tesla alone could be worth $1 trillion by next year.

In 2022, he moved into social media with his high-profile $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

Mr Musk almost immediately rebranded the site, originally founded in 2006, as X, which sparked a significant backlash from some users and advertisers.

The billionaire has since used the platform as an avenue to express his political beliefs.

Mr Musk, who said he voted for Joe Biden in 2020, endorsed Donald Trump ahead of November’s election – in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against the former US president in July.

His online views have not been solely confined to American matters.

Over the summer, Mr Musk waded into the debate surrounding the riots in the UK and accused Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, of curtailing free speech.

Most recently, a feud with Brazil’s Supreme Court led to X being banned in the country.