Tesla shares have been on a break recently, with the company getting a boost from its stellar second-quarter delivery numbers. But even before TSLA stocks hit new all-time highs on Thursday’s intraday, the electric car maker’s surge ended up pushing CEO Elon Musk a little higher in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, thanks to his net worth of $ 53.4B as of Thursday. With this, Musk actually ended up outperforming the net worth of the top oil baron in the United States, Charles Koch, listed in the Index with a net worth of $ 51.5B.
As of Thursday, Musk stands as the 16th richest person in the world. Koch, meanwhile, ranks 18th on the list. Of course, Musk’s net worth is directly related to the valuation of Tesla and SpaceX. However, Musk’s rank today is a symbolic victory for the CEO, considering that he and Koch could not be more different regarding their stance on the environment.
Charles Koch is the President and CEO of Koch Industries, which is widely regarded as the second largest closed business in the United States, operating in oil refining, pipelines, commodity trading, animal husbandry, and paper pulp, among others. . Charles Koch and his brother, the late David Koch, are regarded as oil magnates, and both have been active in promoting the fossil fuel industry.
Musk and the Koch brothers actually got a little hit in 2016, after a report by The Huffington Post claiming that the oil barons were financing efforts to counter-attack the increasing popularity of electric vehicles, one of them was the Tesla Model S. HuffPost The report, citing sources in the refining industry, noted that a member of the Koch Industries board of directors and a veteran energy lobbyist will participate in the anti-EV initiative.
Incidentally, the Energy Research Institute (IER), a company registered by Charles Koch and energy expert Robert L. Bradley Jr., actually published an attack on the Tesla Powerwall, claiming that the household battery system (which was in its Gen 1 version then) it would take almost 40 years to pay. This prompted a response from Tesla, which called the IER report “elemental at best.”
Elon Musk personally responded to The Huffington Post report as well, expressing dismay at Koch’s anti-EV initiative. In a follow-up post, Musk noted that fossil fuel companies, as well as vehicles powered by the internal combustion engine, are actually “heavily subsidized through tax credits from oil companies,” as well as “costs of unpaid public health. “
Tesla shares have risen further in trading on Thursday, fueled by the company’s positive second-quarter report. With this in mind, Elon Musk may very soon move higher on the billionaire list. Interestingly, Musk is known to invest most of his wealth in his own company’s projects. Therefore, it seems safe to assume that most of the CEO’s fortune today would likely be used to accelerate Tesla’s mission to increase sustainable technology or SpaceX’s mission to make humans multi-planet.
