8:36 am, January 8, 2021
Tesla boss Elon Musk is now officially the world’s richest person – with his fortune standing at £139bn.
The figure put him at number one on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index yesterday (Jan 9), which said he has $188.5bn, and knocks Amazon founder Jeff Bezos into second place at $187bn (£138bn). Bezos had held the top slot since 2017.
The boost in his wealth came following a six per cent rise in Tesla’s stock to $816.04 a share following the seizure of power in the Senate by the Democrats, which has fuelled hopes that president-elect Joe Biden will give more tax breaks to people who buy electric cars.
Musk, 49, responded to the news of his premier position in the wealth league in enigmatic style on Twitter:
Meanwhile, a pinned tweet from 2018 shows his thoughts about his money:
He has gained more than $150bn (circa £111bn) in the past year alone – understood to be history’s fastest wealth accumulation.
The entrepreneur owns a fifth of Tesla plus another $42bn (£31bn) of share options.
Tesla’s value is now put at $700bn (£516bn) – more than Ford, GM, Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen together.
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