$100B year propels Elon Musk past Bill Gates to become world’s second wealthiest person
GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 03: Tesla head Elon Musk talks to the press as he arrives to to have a look at the construction site of the new Tesla Gigafactory near Berlin on September 03, 2020 near Gruenheide, Germany. Musk is currently in Germany where he met with vaccine maker CureVac on Tuesday, with which Tesla has a cooperation to build devices for producing RNA vaccines, as well as German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier yesterday. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK (Nexstar) — 2020 has been the worst year on record for many people. But Elon Musk is not many people.
After seeing the birth of his son, learning Tesla will join the S&P 500 and watching his SpaceX Dragon rocket propel astronauts to the International Space Station, he’s now watching something else soar, his net worth.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Musk has seen his net worth grow by more than $100 billion this year alone, propelling him past every billionaire but Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Musk’s total fortune is now estimated at $128 billion as of Tuesday. To put that in perspective, the world’s fifth wealthiest individual, Mark Zuckerberg, is worth an estimated $102 billion. The sixth wealthiest is famed investor Warren Buffett at $86.8 billion. Again, Musk has gained an estimated 100 billion this year alone.
Musk’s wealth surged this week along with shares in his electric car company Tesla after it was announced that the company would join the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Tesla became eligible to join the S&P 500 after posting its fourth consecutive profit in the second quarter of this year. However, it was not selected for inclusion in the index in September by the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Tesla shares have soared 387.8% this year as the company is finally making money on a consistent basis after years of losses and continues to hit milestones for deliveries of its vehicles. Tesla earned $331 million in the third quarter on revenue of $8.77 billion.
The company had a market value of $386.83 billion as of Monday’s close. That would make it the tenth most valuable company in the S&P 500.
S&P Dow Jones Indices said Tesla will be one of the largest companies added to the S&P 500 in the past decade. The company said it is considering adding Tesla in two stages on Dec. 14 and 21.
Gates has been among the two wealthiest individuals for much of the past decade. CNBC points out that he would likely still reside in second place if not for billions donated to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
