Tesla CEO Eles Musk on Thursday surpassed Amazon.com founder Jeffrey Bezos as the richest person in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the price of Tesla shares has increased the value of its paper wealth to more than $ 188 billion.
Tesla shares rose more than 7% on Thursday, which, according to Musica, raised Musk’s net worth to $ 1.5 billion higher than Bezos’ fortune, according to Bloomberg. Shares of the electric car maker have had a spectacular run over the past year, rising nearly 800% from about $ 92 a year ago to more than $ 811 in Thursday’s trading.
Musk responded on Twitter to an account indicating that he is now the richest person in the world, saying, “How strange.” He later added: “Well, back to work …”
Tesla’s stock was added to the S&P 500 last month. The company’s value of $ 768 billion is greater than Ford, GM, Volkswagen and Toyota combined.
Musk’s rise to the top of the rich list comes as the country’s billionaires see their fate rise by more than $ 1 trillion during the pandemic, thanks in part to a strong stock market fueled by investors’ expectations for an economic recovery in 2021. Companies like Amazon have seen sales and profits increase as consumers change their spending patterns and change their behavior to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic.
To be sure, the change in ranking may not be the last, given the varying nature of high-profile stocks such as Amazon and Tesla. And Bezos would probably remain the richest person in the world without his divorce in 2019, who gave his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott about 25% of their holdings in Amazon.
Scott, meanwhile, is the 23rd richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $ 56 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last month, Scott said she donated more than $ 4.2 billion of her fortune to charities, including anti-hunger groups and educational institutions.
Amazon’s inventory was also not relaxed. Since January last year, its shares have risen more than 66%.