Elon Musk becomes World’s 2nd Richest Person
Tesla founder Elon Musk has leapfrogged Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person with a net worth of $128bn (£95.9bn), according to The Telegraph.
The billionaire, who founded the electric car manufacturer and rocket company SpaceX, saw his net worth soar by $7.2bn on Monday, driven by a surge in Tesla’s share price.
So far this year, 49-year-old entrepreneur’s has added more than $100bn to his wealth, making him one of the biggest movers among the world’s richest billionaires.
Musk’s advance up the wealth ranks has been driven largely by Tesla, whose market value rose as much as 4.1pc in New York in early trading on Tuesday, touching an all-time high of $543, and pushing its market capitalisation to an astonishing $506 billion.
About three-quarters of Mr Musk’s net worth comprises Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times as much as his stake in SpaceX.
The world’s richest man is still Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who is worth an estimated $180bn, but Mr Musk is now worth more than Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire rankings. He has climbed from 35th in the rankings in January.
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