Elon Musk, 49, has benefited from Tesla’s stratospheric rise in more ways than one
Elon Musk, the frank entrepreneur behind Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, started the new year with a characteristically bold title: the richest person on the planet.
A 2.8% rise in the price of electric vehicle maker shares pushed Musk to $ 3 billion on Wednesday from Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, who currently ranks first in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world.
The South African-born engineer’s net worth on Wednesday amounted to $ 181.1 billion, a short distance from Bezos, which has held the top spot since October 2017. As CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. . , owner of Blue Origin LLC, in the private space race.
The milestone exceeds 12 extraordinary months for Musk. Over the past year, its net worth soared to more than $ 150 billion, probably in the fastest period of wealth creation in history. Its rise was driven by an unprecedented rise in Tesla’s share price, which rose 743% last year thanks to steady gains, inclusion in the S&P 500 index and the enthusiasm of Wall Street and retail investors. .
Tuesday’s jump in Tesla stock prices further inflates a valuation light-years away, apart from other carmakers, by numerous metrics. Tesla produced just over half a million cars last year, a fraction of Ford Motor Co.’s production. and General Motors Co. The company is poised to make new gains in the short term as Democrats appear about to capture the two seats in the Georgia Senate. and handing over control of Congress to the party advocating for faster adoption 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 has about $ 40 billion in unrealized paper gains on acquired stock options. These values come from two grants he received in 2012 and 2018, the last of which was the largest remuneration agreement ever reached between a CEO and a corporate board.
Despite his astronomical gains, Musk has said he has little interest in material things and few resources outside of his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Last month he told Axel Springer in an interview that the main purpose of his wealth is to accelerate the evolution of humanity toward a space civilization.
“I want to be able to contribute as much as possible to the city of Mars,” Musk said. “That means just a lot of capital.”
The world’s 500 richest people added a record $ 1.8 trillion to their combined net worth last year, equivalent to a 31% increase. Earnings were disproportionately at the top, where five people have fortunes in excess of $ 100 billion and another 20 are worth at least $ 50 billion.
Just six days into the new year, the ranking has already been affected by extraordinary rallies. Chinese Zhong Shanshan has jumped ahead of Warren Buffett to claim the sixth slot after his bottled water company’s shares grew, adding $ 15.2 billion to his fortune.
With the help of Anders Melin and Tom Maloney.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)