Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla Inc., arrives at the Axel Springer Awards in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, December 1, 2020.
Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The manufacturer of electric vehicles, Tesla, surpassed Facebook by market capitalization after markets opened on Friday.
Tesla’s share jumped about 5.5% ET at 9:03 a.m. to give a market capitalization of $ 802.6 billion, while Facebook shares fell. Facebook now has a market capitalization of approximately $ 755.8 billion.
The jump makes Elon Musk’s automotive venture the fifth largest venture capital firm when it comes to adding Alphabet’s stock. It now only follows Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.
Although the brand is largely symbolic, it indicates the dramatic rise of Tesla over a short period of time. In January 2019, Tesla became the first US $ 100 billion listed US carmaker. Just ten months later, the company surpassed a $ 500 billion market capitalization. The share rose by more than 700% in 2020.
The company joined the S&P 500 in December, completing a strong year of performances. Under Musk’s leadership, Tesla has achieved five consecutive profitable quarters. Tesla delivered 499,550 vehicles during the year and is currently building new factories in Austin, Texas and Brandenburg, Germany, among others to increase its production and sales volume.
Meanwhile, Facebook shares rose about 32% throughout 2020.
Tesla shares rose this week after a very clumsy note from Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas and the news of a Democratic majority in the Senate following the election in Georgia.
Among other things, President Elect Joe Biden aims to create 1 million new jobs in the domestic automotive industry, expand the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the US and sharpen solar power and other renewable energy here as part of his clean energy plan . It would apparently be easier for him to advance these plans with a Democratic majority in the Senate. Democrats sealed their majority in the Senate this week after the race in Georgia.
Thursday’s rise in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who was the richest person since 2017 and currently worth about $ 184 billion. Musk started in 2020 worth about $ 27 billion and was barely in the top 50 richest people.
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