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Elon Musk’s year of breakneck promotions reached a new peak on Monday when the Tesla Inc. co-founder surpassed Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person.
The 49-year-old businessman’s net worth soared from $ 7.2 billion to $ 127.9 billion, fueled by another surge in Tesla’s stock price. Musk has added $ 100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most of anyone in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world. In January it ranked 35th.
Its rise through the ranks of wealth has been largely driven by Tesla, whose market value is approaching $ 500 billion. About three-quarters of his net worth is made up of Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times more than his stake in Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX.
Musk’s milestone marks only the second time in the index’s eight-year history that Microsoft co-founder Gates has slipped below number two. He held the top spot for years before being overtaken by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos in 2017. Gates’ net worth of $ 127.7 billion would be much higher if he hadn’t donated so prodigiously to charities throughout. the years. He has donated more than $ 27 billion to the foundation that bears his name since 2006.
With Monday’s move, Musk unseats an occasional verbal sparring partner in Gates, whom the Tesla billionaire has ridiculed on Twitter for, among other things, “not having a clue” about electric trucks. The two have also traded picks for Covid-19. Gates, whose charitable foundation is one of the largest agencies supporting vaccine research, has raised concerns about Musk’s stated suspicion of pandemic data and acceptance of certain conspiracy theories.
The year has been a lucrative one for the richest people in the world. Despite the pandemic and widespread layoffs that have disproportionately affected the world’s working class and poor, members of the Bloomberg Index have collectively gained 23%, or $ 1.3 trillion, since the year began. .
© 2020 Bloomberg
