Whenever Elon Musk has been in the news, we always expect something hilarious. Be it naming his child X Æ A-12, or tweeting that the Model S is now priced at $69,420, he has always been at it. He is one of the richest people in the world, and still makes meme references like any other teenager. Not today, however, as he just made the news for something no one would have expected a year ago. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX (and The Boring Co.), is now the second-richest man in the world.
Elon Musk overtakes Bill Gates, Now The Second-Richest Man In The World
The fact that he has gone past Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, in terms of net worth is no mean feat. Just last week, he had gone past Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and now, he has surpassed Gates as well. The rise is due to an increase in Tesla’s stock price, which is now priced at $521.49 per share. On 16th November, it was priced at $408.09, but it has soared in the past 8 days. This happened after it was announced that Tesla was selected to join the S&P 500 Index of leading US companies. Driven by this surge, Elon’s net worth increased by a further $7.2 billion.
Tesla Stock Price: The Story this year
It is no secret that Tesla’s stock price has soared in the last year or so. Exactly a year ago, the company was dealing at $67.27 per share. Ever since the beginning of this year, their market value has been surging, and so has Musk’s net worth. Musk’s net worth has increased by around $100 billion just this year, which is better than anyone else on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This list contains the 500 richest people in the world, and in January, Musk was ranked 35th.
Given that roughly 75% of Musk’s net worth comes from Tesla’s shares, experts had already expected this surge. And according to a deal between Tesla and Musk, if the stock price continues to grow, Musk could stand to make an extra $55.8 billion. To trigger this payout though, Tesla’s market value should surpass $650 billion by 2028, a figure which currently stands at $494.32 billion.
Tesla’s rise has been absolutely meteoric in this year. In January, it surpassed Volkswagen to become the second-most valuable automobile company in the world, with a market cap of roughly $100 billion. In July, they went past Toyota to take the throne in this category and were valued at $200 billion at the time. And now, they are worth almost $500 billion.
And the funniest thing is the number of sales that they are making, which is significantly lower than any of the other automobile companies. Tesla is slated to manufacture a total of 500,000 vehicles this year. Toyota, on the other hand, produces 10 million units per year. Here is a comparison of Tesla’s sales and its market cap as compared to other automobile companies.
Elon Musk’s Net Worth
While 75% of Musk’s net worth comes directly from Tesla’s shares, there are also other ventures that he is leading. SpaceX is involved in a collaboration with NASA and became the first privately-owned company to launch a fully-operational flight to the International Space Station last week. They sent four astronauts to the ISS, which was the first of many such flights in the near future.
The reason behind Elon surpassing Bill Gates may be the surge in Tesla’s stock price. But, one shouldn’t forget the fact that Bill Gates has donated almost $50 billion of his net worth. All that money has gone into fighting diseases and tackling poverty.
Our Opinion
Just for the sake of comparison, Tesla’s net worth is now comparable with a combined total of 60 midsized German companies listed on the MDAX index. Yes, 60 companies!!
Totally crazy. #Tesla is now worth as much as the listed German Mittelstand (medium-sized companies) listed on the MDax. Mkt Cap of Tesla has risen to €417bn while total mkt cap of 60 MDax comps at €468bn. pic.twitter.com/wtD1o406Bb
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) November 24, 2020
Musk was placed 35th on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index at the beginning of the year and is now the second on the list. That is quite a leap to take in just 11 months. And this, despite the COVID19 pandemic halting operations for some time earlier this year. Say what you will, but Tesla has defied all odds this year. And if they continue to rise at this rate, the $650 billion will be crossed much earlier than 2028.
