With a net worth of $195 billion, South African-born US entrepreneur, Elon Musk, is the world’s richest man, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s richest people.
The 49-year-old Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla and SpaceX overtakes Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon who has held that title since 2017.
Musk’s net worth totaled around $195 billion on Thursday, up from roughly $30 billion a year ago and topping Bezos’s wealth by about $10 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Tesla stocks which surged by 7.9 percent in one day pushed Musk to the top of Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.
Tesla’s spectacular rise was due to its share price increasing by 743 percent in one year thereby adding $165 billion to his fortune, which is considered to be the biggest and fastest rate of wealth accumulation in Bloomberg’s history of recording net worth.
This sees investors who purchased a share in Tesla in 2010 when it released its initial public offering now have stocks that have increased by 23,900 percent in value.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company based in Palo Alto, California. Tesla’s current products include electric cars, battery energy storage from home to grid scale, solar panels and solar roof tiles, as well as other related products and services.
With Elon Musk occupying the top spot, the following persons are at spots 2-10 on the list, as of January 8, 2021, according to Bloomberg: Jeff Bezos Amazon founder-CEO is now the world’s second richest man with a net worth of $185 billion.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates widely considered as the first big tech billionaire is in third place with $134 billion.
Frenchman Luxury retailer Bernard Arnault is fourth with $116 billion. He is the chairman and chief executive of Louis Vitton SE. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who is under 40 closes the top five with $102 billion.
Zhong Shanshan, the richest person in Asia and his native China, Shanshan is sixth with $93.1 billion. He is the founder of Nongfu Spring, the country’s largest beverage company.
On the 7th spot is Warren Buffet with $88.2 billion. Buffet is one of the world’s most successful investors. He is also the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
Larry Page occupies the 8th spot with $83.6 billion. He is one of the two co-founders of Google.
Sergey Brin is the other co-founder of Google with $81 billion and is the 9th on the list, while Larry Ellison rounds up the 10th spot with $80 billion. He is the co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Oracle.
