Tesla co-founder Elon Musk has now jumped the line to become the world’s second richest person, according to Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
As a result of the rise in the 49-year old entrepreneur’s wealth, he has leapfrogged Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates to land at the second spot on the billionaire boys club.
The tech entrepreneur, who is also the co-founder of space exploration firm SpaceX, saw his worth grow by $7.2 billion to $128 billion on Monday.
The Tesla CEO has seen his worth grow by $100 billion in 2020, giving him the largest leap among the billionaire on Bloomberg’s Billionaire table. Elon was recorded at the number 35 spot in January, 2020.
Although, Elon Musk made such a wide leap, there is still a sizable gap between his spot, and the number one spot, which is currently held by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos has a reported net worth of around $182 billion.
Musk’s incessant climb up the list has been attributed to Tesla’s share price. The car company currently has a market cap of almost $500 billion, after starting the year at under $100 billion.
According to a report by The Guardian, Tesla has the highest market cap of any car company in the world, despite producing only a fraction of the cars of more established automakers.
This year it expects to produce 500,000 cars, compared to around 10 million for a company like Toyota.
Musk’s success is also, partly, attributed to the success recorded by his other venture – SpaceX. Recently, SpaceX transported four astronauts aboard its Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
Elon Musk’s move up the ladder has pushed Bill Gates a step down into third place. This marks the second time in Bloomberg’s index’s eight-year history that Mr Gates hasn’t been ranked in the top two.
However, according to CNBC, Bill Gates’s net worth of $127.7 billion would be considerably higher if it weren’t for his philanthropic endeavors. Since 2006, he has given over $27 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
