Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world , with a net worth of more than $187 billion, according to a Bloomberg report . The Tesla and SpaceX CEO surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the list of the richest people as shares of his companies rose significantly.
Bezos has been the richest person on the planet since 2017, and his current net worth is $184 billion. Elon Musk's earnings increased by $150 million last year as demand for Tesla's electric cars surged.
However, just 18 months ago, Tesla had suffered major losses following legal issues and concerns about Musk's leadership. The company had faced various issues during that time, with government investigations, layoffs and operational problems.
However, Tesla's share price has increased significantly (by 9 times) in the past year, making a strong comeback. On the other hand, Amazon has remained more stable.
At the beginning of 2020, Elon Musk was worth about $27 billion and had just one spot among the 50 richest people in the world. Musk surpassed Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, in July to become the seventh richest person and later dislodged Bill Gates, taking second place. Within a few months, he had acquired more wealth than the Microsoft (worth $132 billion).
Tesla Inc. shares on Saturday confirmed Wall Street's targets for annual vehicle deliveries, but not Elon Musk's, who had forecast sales of 500,000 cars for 2020.
The stock's rise was supported by five consecutive rallies, which helped the electric car maker stand out in the global auto industry.
But Tesla faces a difficult task as it needs to ramp up production. Vehicle deliveries so far have been supported by the new Shanghai factory, which is the only factory producing cars outside of California. Loup Ventures CEO Gene Munster said: “The bad news is that to meet the increased demand, the company needs to quickly build new factories in Austin, Texas, and Brandenburg, Germany. Scaling up production is difficult and will be one of the most important topics for Tesla in 2021, along with Full Self-Driving.”
However, Forbes seems to disagree with these estimates, claiming that Musk has increased dramatically, but he remains second, behind Jeff Bezos.
Source: metro.co.uk
