Elon Musk, 49, benefited from Tesla’s stratospheric increase in more ways than one
Elon Musk, the declared entrepreneur behind Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, started the new year with a characteristically audacious title: the richest person on the planet.
A 2.8% rise in the electric car maker’s share price on Wednesday raised Musk to about $ 3 billion compared to Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, who currently ranks first on the Bloomberg Index Billionaires, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world.
The net worth of the South African-born engineer was $ 181.1 billion on Wednesday, just before Bezos, who ranks first since October 2017. As CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Musk is also rival to Bezos, owner of Blue Origin LLC, in the private space race.
The milestone closes an extraordinary 12 months for Musk. Last year, its net worth soared by more than $ 150 billion, possibly in the fastest wealth creation spurt in history. Fueling its rise was an unprecedented rebound in Tesla’s stock price, which rose 743% last year due to consistent profits, inclusion in the S&P 500 Index and enthusiasm from Wall Street and similar retail investors.
Wednesday’s jump in Tesla’s stock price further increases the light-year valuation apart from other automakers in various metrics. Tesla produced just over half a million cars last year, a fraction of the production of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. The company is poised for more short-term gains, as Democrats appear to be about to achieve both. seats in the Georgia Senate and hand over control of Congress to the party that advocates the faster adoption of electric vehicles.
Stock options
Musk, 49, benefited from Tesla’s stratospheric increase in more ways than one. In addition to his 20% stake in the automaker, he is sitting on about $ 40 billion in unrealized gains on paper on acquired stock options. These titles come from two concessions he received in 2012 and 2018, the last of which was the largest payment agreement ever struck between a CEO and a corporate board.
Despite his astronomical gains, Musk said he has little interest in material things and has few assets outside of his holdings in Tesla and SpaceX. He told Axel Springer in an interview last month that the main objective of his wealth is to accelerate the evolution of humanity towards a space civilization.
“I want to be able to contribute as much as possible to the city of Mars,” said Musk. “It means a lot of capital.”
The 500 richest people in the world added a record $ 1.8 trillion to their combined net worth last year, equivalent to a 31% increase. The gains were disproportionately at the top, where five individuals have fortunes in excess of $ 100 billion and another 20 are worth at least $ 50 billion.
Just six days after the beginning of the year, the ranking has already been brought down by extraordinary rallies. China’s Zhong Shanshan overtook Warren Buffett to claim the sixth spot after his bottled water company’s stock soared, adding $ 15.2 billion to his fortune.
–With the help of Anders Melin and Tom Maloney.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by the NDTV team and is published from a syndicated feed.)