Elon Musk, the maverick chief executive of Tesla, has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person with a $128bn (£97bn).
Hisana Thasneem
credits: Wikipedia
Elon Musk, the maverick chief executive of Tesla, has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person with a $128bn (£97bn) fortune after the electric car company he helped found 17 years ago soared in value to more than $500bn.
Musk, 49, has seen his personal fortune increase by $100bn so far this year as investors worldwide rush to buy shares in Tesla, which is seen as key in helping wean the world off its reliance on fossil fuels.
The shares have increased dramatically in recent days as investment funds rush to buy stakes in advance of Tesla’s debut on the US blue chip S&P 500 index next month. In January, the shares were changing hands at $86.
Musk, who owns 20% of Tesla’s shares, saw his wealth jump by $7.2bn to $128bn on Tuesday, overtaking Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos remains the world’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Musk’s move up the world wealth rankings comes just a week after he overtook Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to take the third-placed slot. In January, Musk was in 35th place. Bezos holds a $182bn fortune, which has swelled by $67bn so far this year.
Musk’s wealth could soar higher as Tesla’s share price growth puts Musk on target for a bonus deal that could pay him a record $55.8bn. In order to trigger the maximum pay-out Musk has to build Tesla into a $650bn company by 2028. When the scheme was created in 2018 it was valued at $55bn.
Tesla’s debut on the S&P 500 on 21 December will be the biggest on record, and huge volumes of trading are expected to take place in the days before the inclusion. “[Tesla] will be one of the largest weight additions to the S&P 500 in the last decade, and consequently will generate one of the largest funding trades in S&P 500 history,”.
Tesla’s inclusion in the index is significant because passive funds that track the S&P 500 will have to buy shares in the company.