Elon Musk has experienced a meteoric rise in his wealth, his net worth increasing by $ 76.1 billion this year
Elon Musk is the third richest person in the world – at least for now.
Musk overtook Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg on Monday as Tesla shares continued their relentless rally after suffering a futures share split. At 2:22 p.m., Musk was worth $ 111.9 billion compared to Zuckerberg’s $ 111.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is updated at the end of each trading day.
Musk has seen a meteoric rise in his wealth, his net worth increasing to $ 76.1 billion this year as Tesla shares have jumped more than 475%. Also useful: a bold compensation package – the largest corporate compensation deal ever between a CEO and a board – that could net him over $ 50 billion if all goals are met.
Tesla, a favorite among hobbyist investors at online trading firm Robinhood Financial, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the retail investment boom during times of pandemic lockdown. At one point last month, nearly 40,000 Robinhood accounts added Tesla shares in a single four-hour period. And the trend is not limited to the United States: South Korean retail investors have crowded into Tesla this year and hold around 1% of the capital of the American manufacturer.
Tesla’s $ 454 billion market value now exceeds that of retail giant Walmart Inc., the largest company in the United States by revenue.
Last week Musk, 49, joined Amazon.com Inc.’s Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates in the rarefied centibillion club as tech stocks rose.
The dizzying pace of wealth accumulation in recent months stands in stark contrast to the state of the global economy. Growth has fallen sharply since the start of the pandemic, with companies laying off millions of workers and consumer demand declining. Most of the economic pain has been borne by young, low-wage workers, whose jobs are typically more vulnerable to covid-related layoffs.
Growing income inequality has provoked strong backlash from many progressive politicians and leftist critics. US Senator Bernie Sanders this month introduced legislation to tax “extreme wealth gains” during the pandemic.
Musk still has a long way to go to become the richest person in the world. Bezos is worth around $ 200 billion.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
