Elon Musk is charging up his fortune. The Tesla chief’s net worth has grown more than any other billionaire’s so far this year amid a massive stock boom for his electric-car company.
Musk added $4.7 billion to his fortune on Monday, when Tesla’s share price surged nearly 20 percent to close at a new high of $780, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. His wealth has ballooned by a total of $13.5 billion, or 48.9 percent, since the start of the year — an increase larger than anyone else on Bloomberg’s list of the world’s richest people.
The recent gains gave 48-year-old Musk a net worth of $41 billion as of Monday, making him the 22nd-richest person on Bloomberg’s list. He ranks just above Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife MacKenzie and luxury-goods magnate Francois Pinault, who have fortunes of $39.9 billion and $39.8 billion, respectively.
Tesla’s share price has jumped more than 83 percent since the start of the year, fueled in part by stronger-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019 and the new profitability of a car-battery factory the company runs with Panasonic. Analysts have also hiked their price targets for Tesla stock, with one research firm called ARK Invest saying it will be worth at least $7,000 by 2024.
Musk’s wealth has grown even more than Bezos, who remains the world’s richest person with a net worth of $124 billion. Bloomberg says the e-commerce tycoon has added about $9 billion to his fortune for the year despite a roughly $15 billion increase after Amazon reported massive earnings last week, which sent its stock price soaring.
Musk owns about 20 percent of Silicon Valley-based Tesla and his stake in the company, including options, accounts for about $30 billion of his fortune, according to Bloomberg. Another $14.6 billion comes from his ownership of the rocket company SpaceX. He also has $101 million from his infrastructure firm, the Boring Company, and $3.6 billion in various liabilities, Bloomberg says.
New York Post