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(Bob Daemmrich)
In just a few years, the men behind Texas-based tech giants could be some of the first trillionaires.
A new study by software company Tipalti Approve predicts Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, will reach trillionaire status by 2024. His estimated net worth at the start of the year was $263 billion and it has increased by an average of 129% since 2017, which puts him on track to reach a $1.38 trillion net worth at age 52.
Though Musk has other ventures like Neuralink and the Boring Company, the study notes Tesla and SpaceX as contributors to his growing wealth. Combined, the two companies saw Musk’s fortune grow more than 10 times from what it was in 2020.
Tipalti Approve carried out the study by comparing the annual net worths of the richest people from 2017 to the present day, to calculate the year on year annual growth rate of each and estimate when they’ll reach one trillion dollars.
Some expressed disappointment in the study with one Twitter user saying “every trillionaire is a policy failure.” Musk has commented on the massive amounts of wealth held by him and some of the others in the billionaire club.
\u201cUse of the word \u201cbillionaire\u201d as a pejorative is morally wrong & dumb \ud83d\ude1b\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1653606124
Still, the study notes the trillionaire race isn’t certain, as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was previously on the fastest track for the title.
“It was Bezos, not Musk, who a few years ago was expected to become the world’s first trillionaire, and who now isn’t expected to join the club until 2030, some six years after Musk,” the study notes.
The other likely trillionaire with ties to Central Texas is Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies. He’s predicted to become a trillionaire by 2033 when he’s 67 years old.
His current net worth is $60 billion, and he's expected to beat others like Mark Zuckerberg and Fort Worth billionaire Alice Walton to the trillionaire club.
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Austin is one of the top metro areas where homebuyer income saw the greatest surge during the pandemic and it came at a cost to locals.
A new analysis by real estate services firm Redfin reports that affluent out-of-towers have contributed to surging home prices in metros like Austin. Due to this trend, Redfin notes, many local buyers with lower incomes have been priced out.
“For white-collar workers earning high salaries, remote work is a huge financial boon,” said Sheharyar Bokhari, Redfin senior economist. Jobs with that flexibility, Bokhari says, enable them to move from a tech hub like San Francisco to a more affordable part of the country where they can get more home for their money and even put some toward a rainy day fund.
“It can have the opposite effect on locals in those destinations–especially renters–who are watching from the sidelines as home prices skyrocket while their income stays mostly the same,” Bokhari said.
In Austin, the median homebuyer income surged 19% from 2019 to 2021, ultimately reaching $137,000. In that time, the median home price growth was 48%, just behind Boise, Idaho which was more than 50%.
But the housing market is starting to slow. Redfin says high mortgage rates and unsustainable price growth have driven demand down. In fact, Austin is among the 20 housing markets that have cooled the fastest in the first half of this year.
“People are still moving in from California and they still have enough money to buy nice homes in desirable neighborhoods, sometimes with all cash,” said Austin Redfin agent Gabriel Recio. “But the days of homes selling for 25% over asking price with multiple offers are over. Buyers are no longer as eager now that mortgage rates are up and there’s buzz in the air about the slowing housing market.”
As a result, Recio says, local and out-of-town buyers have an opportunity to buy a home at the asking price or even under.
Redfin carried out its analysis using data from the home mortgage disclosure act to review median household incomes for homebuyers who took out a mortgage, though it doesn’t include buyers who paid using all cash.
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(Shutterstock)
School is back in session—do you know the latest TikTok trends?
With Austin ISD resuming session on Monday, school officials are keeping tabs on the newest TikTok trends that could pose classroom disruptions and property damage.
TikTok trends swept through Austin-area schools last year with the “Devious Lick” challenge, which encouraged students to steal from school property and reportedly caused $15,000 in damages at Round Round ISD; and the “slap a staff member” challenge.
On the distraction end, a substitute teacher was dismissed from Bowie High School in December after bringing in a karaoke machine to class and singing Britney Spears’ “Toxic” for the class on TikTok.
Officials told KXAN they are staying aware of the trends as they change during the 2022-2023 school year and the district will investigate perceived threats. Since TikTok trends vary in severity, they will also evaluate to see which trends could cause harm or not.
Finally, the school district said it does not tolerate violence or bullying and will focus its efforts on protecting students both physically and digitally.
