Photo: The B Word
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has handily scored the top spot in Bloomberg‘s recently published list of the wealthiest ‘green billionaires’ — billionaires who have amassed a significant portion of their fortune from businesses that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the world.
As of the list’s publication, Musk’s total net worth weighs in at a whopping $288.3 billion USD, with his ‘green net worth’ (overall wealth minus holdings in non-compliant businesses like SpaceX) at a whopping $247.9 billion USD.
Musk’s green net worth, which is derived solely from Tesla’s cars and solar products, accounts for 86% of his total wealth.
And this is after Musk liquidated $5 billion USD worth of his holdings in Tesla by Wednesday, and another $687 Million worth of stock on Thursday to send Tesla’s share price plummeting some 15% week-to-date.
Elon Musk became the richest person on Earth at the beginning of the year, and today easily supersedes Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg in net worth.
Musk’s $247.9 billion green fortune dwarfs the combined $95.2 billion USD green net worth of Chinese battery maker CATL’s Zeng Yuqun, Huang Shilin, and Li Ping, who together occupy the second position on the list.
“The size of his fortune is on a par with John D. Rockefeller’s peak inflation-adjusted net worth, a fortune amassed from fossil fuels,” said Bloomberg about the Tesla CEO.
Today, the richest person on Earth is an actual green billionaire who built an empire on the foundations of sustainable transportation and green energy, as opposed to just a few years ago when the term simply referred to billionaires who made significant donations to environmental causes and/or made environmentally-conscious lifestyle choices.
Third on the list are Chinese automaker BYD’s Wang Chuanfu, Lv Xiangyang, and Xia Zuoquan, with a combined green net worth of $21.4 billion USD. Li Zhenguo, Li Chunan, Li Xiyan, and Zhong Baoshen of China’s Longi, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar wafers, rank fourth, and CATL’s Pei Zhenhua comes in at fifth.
Leo KoGuan, a dedicated Tesla investor and the company’s third-largest individual shareholder, also made it into the list at number 10. KoGuan has a green net worth of $7.4 billion USD.
The Singapore-based billionaire almost lost his entire stake in Tesla to margin calls during March of last year, but continued to invest in the company. “Any money I have I spend on Tesla,” he says. As of October, KoGuan owns 6.6 million shares in Tesla.
“The 15 billionaires on Bloomberg Green’s ranking showcase the explosive growth of electric vehicles, batteries, and solar power,” said the publication.
Combined, the 15 billionaires who made the list are worth $500 billion USD — up 41% from February when the list was last updated.
