Paris
Remember last week when Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of electric car company Tesla, zoomed past Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to become the third-richest person in the world? Well, this week he has become the second-richest person in the world!
He toppled Bill Gates as the world’s second-richest person on Monday after a further surge in Tesla’s share price. The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth rose by $7.2bn (£5.4bn) to $127.9bn.
Musk has added $100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people, reported Fortune. In January, he ranked 35th (yeah, we’re still wrapping our mind around the jump from 35th richest to SECOND richest in less than a year).
According to Fortune, about three-quarters of his net worth is comprised of Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times as much as his stake in Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX.
The only other person richer than him at this moment? Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. The publication added that Musk’s milestone marks only the second time in the index’s eight-year history that Microsoft co-founder Gates has ranked lower than number two. He held the top spot for years before being bumped by Bezos in 2017. Gates’s net worth of $127.7 billion would be much higher had he not donated so prodigiously to charity over the years, noted Fortune (he has given more than a whooping $27 billion to his namesake foundation since 2006).
“The year has been a lucrative one for the world’s richest people. Despite the pandemic and widespread layoffs that have disproportionately affected the world’s working class and poor, the members of the Bloomberg index have collectively gained 23%, or $1.3 trillion, since the year began,” said Fortune.
Gates, who has been dethroned as the second-richest, earlier this year touched on Musk’s controversial comments about Covid-19, telling the automaker entrepreneur to stay in his lane.
“Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments,” Gates said. “He’s not much involved in vaccines. He makes a great electric car. And his rockets work well. So he’s allowed to say these things. I hope that he doesn’t confuse areas he’s not involved in too much.” Here’s what there no confusion about: we all need to take a page from Musk’s book on how to make more money!—AP
