Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, with a personal fortune of more than $185 billion, is currently the wealthiest person.
On Thursday, January 7, a rise in the share price of his company moved Musk past Jeff Bezos, who has been the richest individual since 2017 and is currently worth around $184 billion.
Musk tweeted in response to the news: “How strange. All right, back to work…”
The 49-year-old auto company has risen in value this year and for the first time on Wednesday achieved a market value of $700bn (£516bn).
Just passed by Bill Gates in November, the South African-born became the second-richest person in the world. Over the past 12 months, Musk has earned more capital than the entire $132 billion net worth of Bill Gates.
According to Bloomberg, Bill Gates is now a distant third at $132 billion.
Tesla’s shares have recently been trading at about $790, up more than 4% on Thursday. The market cap of the business has risen to $737.6 billion.
In 2020, Elon Musk saw his personal fortune skyrocket to the tune of over $150 billion, mainly because he owns a lot of Tesla stock, about 20% of the company.