Tesla CEO and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has been acquiring wealth like crazy over the past year. Now, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire index, he’s inching ever closer to surpassing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person.
With a net worth of $175 billion dollars, Musk is not far behind Bezos’ $186 billion dollars, and is likely to become the richest person in the world in 2021, as Tesla’s stock price continues to rally.
It was under two months ago that Musk surpassed Bill Gates to become the second-richest person with $128 billion, and he’s already up almost another $50 billion since then. He’s also added $5.47 billion to his fortune in 2021 already, while most others on the billionaire index are down at least several million starting off the new year.
Musk recently sold three of his California homes, adding roughly $40 million to his pockets. He has also claimed he will not buy another house, and will largely get rid of his material possessions in his move to Texas.
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk together gained more wealth during the pandemic ($158 billion) than Congress just authorized for additional unemployment benefits for 14 million Americans ($120 billion).
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 1, 2021
As the first person to push the electric vehicle (EV) idea far enough to reach the mainstream, Musk has certainly earned a fair share of his own wealth. And while it’s not clear how much more wealth he’ll continue to accrue, it is clear he’s close to earning his spot as the wealthiest man in the world.
