WEALTH

It’s official. Tesla founder Elon Musk has seized the throne of being the world’s richest person right under the nose of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. All thanks to a rally in Tesla’s share prices.

A 4.8% rally in Tesla’s share price took Musk past Bezos, with a net worth of $188.5 billion, 1.5 billion more than Bezos, who has held the top spot since October 2017. This year, Musk’s net worth increased by more than $150 billion and Tesla’s share price surged a massive 743% in 2020.

This incredible rally culminated in the 49-year-old electric car company’s amazing surge in value, enabling it to achieve a market value of $700 billion for the first time in its history. Musk has benefited from Tesla’s rise in more than one way. In addition to his 20% stake in the carmaker, Elon Musk also owns about $42 billion of unrealized paper gains on vested stock options. Those securities come from two grants he received in 2012 and 2018, the latter of which was the largest pay deal ever struck between a CEO and a corporate board.

In 2020, Tesla reportedly delivered 4,42,511 Model 3 and Model Y cars, while producing 4,54,932 of the vehicles. It delivered 57,039 Model S and Model X cars while producing 54,805 such vehicles.

Despite this milestone, the world richest person remains unfazed. As soon as he learnt of his new status, he simply tweeted, “How strange.” His reply: As surreal as his astronomical rise to become the richest person in the world.