Elon Musk is now estimated by Bloomberg to be worth a staggering $288.6 billion after Hertz ordered 100,000 Tesla vehicles from Musk’s company.
It’s the biggest one-day gain in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, eclipsing Chinese tycoon Zhong Shanshan’s $32 billion surge last year when his bottled-water company, Nongfu Spring Co., went public. Musk’s net worth of $288.6 billion is now greater than the market value of Exxon Mobil Corp. or Nike Inc.
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Tesla Inc. shares rose 13% on news of the Hertz order, pushing its market value past $1 trillion. About two-thirds of Musk’s net worth is tied directly to shares and options in the electric-car company, of which he is co-founder and chief executive officer.
This means he is increasing the wealth gap between himself and the executive chair of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.
According to Forbes, Musk is now worth $61.9 billion more than Bezos, whose wealth currently stands at $193.3 billion.
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Other big names in the rankings include Bill Gates, whose wealth is at $135.2 billion, and luxury brand owner Bernard Arnault and his family, who are worth $187 billion with brands from Louis Vuitton to Moët in their stable.
Musk’s new net worth means he is not only the richest person, but is also worth more than some major companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Nike Inc.
Due to the stock-based nature of his wealth, Musk actually has few liquid assets, and last year announced on Twitter he planned to sell “almost all” his physical possessions, centering his fortune firmly in the stock market space.
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Elon Musk co-founded and leads Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company.
As the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon leads all product design, engineering and global manufacturing of the company’s electric vehicles, battery products and solar energy products.
Since the company’s inception in 2003, Tesla’s mission has been to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
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Tesla also produces three energy storage products, the Powerwall home battery, the Powerpack commercial-scale battery, and Megapack, which is designed for utility-scale installations.
In 2016, Tesla became the world’s first vertically-integrated sustainable energy company with the acquisition of SolarCity, the leading provider of solar power systems in the United States, and in 2017 released Solar Roof – a beautiful and affordable energy generation product.
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