Elon Musk
Elon Musk, the outspoken entrepreneur behind Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, began the new year with a distinctively cheeky title: the richest person on the planet.
A 4.9% rally in the electric carmaker’s share price brought Musk up to $ 3 billion from the founder of Amazon.com Inc. increase. Jeff Bezos, who is currently taking first place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world.
The South African-born engineer’s net worth was $ 184.5 billion at 13:28 in New York, just shy of Bezos, which has held the top position since October 2017. As CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Musk is also a contender against Bezos, owner of Blue Origin LLC, in the private space race.
The milestone reaches Musk an extraordinary twelve months. Its net worth has risen by more than $ 146 billion over the past year, possibly the fastest-growing success of wealth in history. The rise in the shares was an unprecedented increase in Tesla’s share price, which rose 743% last year due to steady gains, inclusion in the S&P 500 index and enthusiasm from Wall Street and retail investors.
Wednesday’s rise in Tesla’s share price blows a valuation light years ahead of other automakers on numerous benchmarks. Last year, Tesla produced just over half a million cars, a fraction of Ford Motor Co.’s production. and General Motors Co. The company is ready for further short-term gains as Democrats. appears on the verge of taking both the Senates of Georgia and handing over control of Congress to the party advocating for faster use of electric vehicles.
Stock options
Musk, 49, has benefited from Tesla’s stratospheric rise in more ways than one. In addition to its 20% stake in the automaker, it sits at $ 41.1 billion in unrealized paper profits on established stock options. These securities come from two grants he received in 2012 and 2018, the latter of which was the largest wage agreement ever concluded between a CEO and a corporate board.
Despite his astronomical gain, Musk said he has little interest in material things and that he has few assets beyond his interest in Tesla and SpaceX. He has Axel Springer in a questioned last month that the main purpose of its wealth is to accelerate the evolution of mankind into a spatial population.
“I want to be able to contribute as much as possible to the city on Mars,” Musk said. “It just means a lot of capital.”
The world’s 500 richest people added a record $ 1.8 billion to their combined net worth last year, equivalent to a 31% increase. The profits were disproportionate, with five individuals owning more than $ 100 billion and another 20 worth at least $ 50 billion.
Only six days into the new year, the rankings have already been raised by extraordinary rallies. Zhong Shanshan, China, on Tuesday next to Warren Buffett vaulted to claim the sixth lock after shares of his bottled water company rose, $ 13.5 billion to his fortune.
– With assistance from Anders Melin
(Updates with Tesla exports in fifth paragraph.)