Elon Musk has emerged the richest person in the world, after his networth rose to more than $185 billion.
Yesterday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surged over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history — and marks a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur who just 18 months ago was in the headlines for Tesla’s rapid cash burn and his personal leverage against Tesla’s stock.
Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, and was barely in the top 50 richest people. Tesla’s rocketing share price — which has increased more than nine-fold over the past year — along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his networth.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s share price has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.Elon Musk passed Warren Buffett in July to become the seventh richest person. In November, Musk raced past Bill Gates to become the second richest person. Musk has gained more wealth over the past 12 months than Bill Gates’ entire net worth of $132 billion. Tesla’s shares were recently trading at about $790, up more than 4 per cent in trading Thursday. The company’s market value has grown to $737.6 billion.