With the company’s high stock price, tesla CEO Musk topped the list of the world’s richest people.
In early U.S. stock trading on Thursday, 7 EST, CNBC said Musk’s personal net worth reached $185 billion, surpassing Amazon CEO Bezos, who is currently worth $184 billion, to become the world’s top billionaire. Bloomberg said Musk’s net worth reached $188.5 billion as of 10:15 p.m. EST Thursday, $1.5 billion higher than Bezos.
Musk became the new richest man thanks to a big jump in the price of Tesla shares, in which he holds 170 million shares. In early trading Thursday, Tesla shares broke the $800 mark for the first time in its history, with a market capitalization of more than $760 billion and a maximum intraday gain of more than 6 percent, well ahead of the broader market and on track to close at a new high for the ninth consecutive trading day. Amazon shares rose more than 2.2% on Thursday when it set a new daily high. Other electric car stocks were also higher in early trading Thursday, with Ideal Auto up more than 8 percent, Azera up more than 7 percent and Xiaopeng up nearly 6 percent.
It is worth mentioning that Musk’s personal wealth was only about $27 billion at the beginning of 2020, just among the list of the world’s top 50 richest people. Bezos has been at the top of the list since 2017, and in November 2020, Musk was “battling” with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for the second spot.
Over the past year, Tesla’s stock price has soared 743%, leading blue-chip technology stocks in the U.S. Amazon’s cumulative gain for 2020 is less than 80%. In the past year, Musk’s personal net worth surged by more than $150 billion, called by CNBC the fastest-rising billionaire in history. 2020 began with a $14.2 billion increase in the market value of Tesla options held by Musk, and the new options received during the year ended with a market value of $21.5 billion.
Since the start of 2021, Tesla shares have risen by about 7%, and Musk’s holdings and stock options have increased by $1 billion in market value. Amazon shares, on the other hand, are down nearly 4%.
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