Photo courtesy: Reuters

By Joséphine Li

According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk’s total wealth has surpassed that of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to grab the title of world’s richest person. 

Musk’s meteoric rise in wealth over the past year marks the fastest ascent to the top of the rich list in history. The celebrated entrepreneur made history with Tesla’s dramatic financial turnaround — just 18 months ago, Musk was in the headlines for Tesla’s rapid cash burn and his personal leverage against the company’s stock.

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Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, barely making it into the top 50 richest people. But in just one year, Tesla’s rocketing share price, which has soared more than ninefold and Musk’s generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth — putting Musk at the top of the rich list.

Last July, Elon Musk passed Warren Buffett to become the seventh richest person. Last November, Musk raced past Bill Gates to become the second richest person. Over the past 12 months, Elon Musk’s wealth has exceeded Bill Gates’s total assets of $132 billion.

Amazon’s share price, in the meantime, has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.

Tesla’s shares closed at $816.04, up nearly 8% on January 7. The company’s market value has risen to more than $760 billion.

While the Bloomberg Billionaires Index had Musk within $3 billion of Bezos’ net worth on January 6, before the trading day on Thursday. The Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List had Musk about $7 billion behind Bezos after the market closed on January 7. Forbes pegged Bezos’ net worth at about $185 billion and Musk at about $177 billion. 

Forbes may not be including the option value of Musk’s purchase of 33 million shares in Tesla, which Musk received as part of his pay package. Bloomberg, however, has posted an article confirming Musk’s title on the rich list.