With a net worth of $185bn, the Chief Executive Officer SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk has emerged the world’s richest man.
Musk is a major shareholder of the electric car company and has benefited from Tesla’s surging share price over the last year, overtaking the Amazon boss Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest.
The South African-born leader of the aerospace venture SpaceX has become a pacesetter for the car industry as conventional automakers try to catch up to Tesla’s lead in electric autos.
Tesla had a strong 2020 as it ramped up auto production, broke ground on new factories and reported a series of profitable quarters that enabled shares to rise more than 700 percent during the year as it was added to the prestigious S&P 500 index.
Musk had his net worth increased by more than $150bn over the past year being the fastest bout of wealth creation in history.
Reports show that his rise was impacted by the unprecedented rally in Tesla’s share price, which surged 743 percent last year on the back of consistent profits, inclusion in the S&P 500 Index and enthusiasm from Wall Street and retail investors alike
Bezos would still hold a wide lead over Musk had it not been for his divorce, which saw him cede about a quarter of his Amazon stake to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, and his philanthropy. He donated shares worth about $680m in November.
