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Elon Musk Is Officially the Second Richest Man in the World Now

Today is a good day to wake up as Elon Musk. As of this week, he is officially the second richest man in the world, thanks to another surge in Tesla’s share price.
New surge in Tesla's share price makes Elon Musk the second-richest man in the world 1 photo
Photo: Tesla
The latest development comes less than a week after Musk shot to number three on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, displacing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Fortune reports. It also marks the first time in eight years when Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates does not occupy one of the top three positions. He was at number one until 2017 when Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos dethroned him.

Bezos is still at number one as of the time of writing, with $181 billion in net worth. Musk’s net worth has shot by $7.2 billion with the latest surge in Tesla’s share price, all the way to $127.9 billion. Considering he started 2020 as the world’s 35th richest man on the same list, you could say 2020 has not been as bad for Musk as it’s been for the rest of the world, far from it.

Tesla’s current market value is close to $500 billion, and with three-quarters of Musk’s net worth coming from Tesla shares, it makes sense for his net worth to reflect whatever is happening on the market. However, to unlock the maximum payout of $55.8 billion, Musk must build Tesla into a $650 billion company by the year 2028. Which, considering how 2020 has been going, could happen, probably even before that date. To be fair, 2020 has also proven that you can never have too many misfortunes.

As of right now, Tesla is the highest valued carmaker in the world, despite the fact that it produces a fraction of the number of cars other makers are putting out annually. With new Gigafactories opening both in the U.S. and internationally, those numbers are expected to pick up as early as 2021.

As Bezos would say...

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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