Elon Musk has just become the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185billion (£136billion). The Tesla and SpaceX boss shot past Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the world’s rich list after shares in his companies rose.
In the past year South African born Musk’s wealth has risen by $160billion (£118billion) as demand for Tesla’s electric cars has soared. Bezos had been the richest person on the planet since 2017 and is currently worth around $184billion (£136billion).
Just 18 months ago Tesla’s value suffered heavy losses following legal and regulatory concerns and worries over Musk’s leadership. In August 2018 the CEO famously tweeted that he had ‘funding secured’ to make Tesla private at ‘$420 a share’, heralding a year of litigation, government inquiries, layoffs and operational problems.
But Tesla’s share price has increased more than nine-fold over the past year, making a substantial comeback, while Amazon’s have remained more steady. At the start of 2020 Musk was worth around $27billion (£20billion) and was only just in the top 50 richest people.
Musk surpassed Warren Buffett in July, becoming the seventh richest person in the world, and then shot past Bill Gates to become the second. He has gained more wealth over the past year than the Microsoft boss’s entire $132billion net worth
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