Elon Musk passes Bill Gates to become second richest person | News from the United States and Canada

The Tesla founder added $ 100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the highest number in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the world’s 500 richest people.

Elon Musk’s year of dizzying climbs reached a new high on Monday when the co-founder of Tesla Inc. passed Bill Gates to become the second richest person in the world.

The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth soared from $ 7.2 billion to $ 127.9 billion, on the back of a further surge in Tesla’s share price. Musk added $ 100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most people on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the richest 500 people in the world. In January, he placed 35th.

Its rise through the ranks of wealth was largely driven by the electric automaker, whose market value hit $ 500 billion after Tesla shares rallied again on Tuesday.

About three-quarters of his net worth is made up of Tesla stock, which is valued more than four times as much as his stake in Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.

Elon Musk’s net worth soared from $ 7.2 billion to $ 127.9 billion on Monday, amid another surge in Tesla’s share price [File: Justin Chin/Bloomberg]

Musk’s milestone marks only the second time in the index’s eight-year history that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Gates has fallen below second place. He held the number one spot for years before being supplanted by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos in 2017. Gates’ net worth of $ 127.7 billion would be much higher if he didn’t. hadn’t made such a huge donation to charity over the years. He has given more than $ 27 billion to his namesake foundation since 2006.

With Monday’s move, Musk destroys an occasional verbal sparring partner in Gates, whom billionaire Tesla has ridiculed on Twitter for, among other things, having “no idea” about electric trucks. The two also traded beards on Covid-19. Gates, whose charitable foundation is one of the main organizations supporting vaccine research, has expressed concern over Musk’s stated suspicion of pandemic data and the adoption of certain conspiracy theories.

It has been a lucrative year for the richest people in the world. Despite the pandemic and widespread layoffs that have disproportionately affected the working class and the world’s poor, members of the Bloomberg Index have collectively earned 23% – or $ 1.3 trillion – since the start of the year .

Those in the electric vehicle industry, however, have been particular beneficiaries. The combined fortunes of Zeng Yuqun and Huang Shilin, president and vice-president of China’s largest electric vehicle battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., have climbed $ 18.8 billion since the start of the year, according to the index.