Elon Musk Set To Be World's Third-Richest Person After His Wealth Increased By $15 Billion

Elon Musk is about to become the world’s third-richest person, taking over the position from Mark Zuckerberg after Tesla enjoys a 13% increase in the share price.

Tesla shares have already grown by nearly 500% this year and with the latest jump, his fortune is set to increase by around $15bn to a new high of $117.5bn.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk has overtaken Zuckerberg, who possesses a fortune of $106bn and the former world’s third-richest person.

Musk holds 20% of Tesla’s shares and he is also the founder of SpaceX – a hugely successful rocket company.

Musk’s wealth can skyrocket again if he gets the bonus deal of $55,8bn. If he wants the maximum payout, he will have to make Tesla a $650bn company by the year 2028.

The two billionaires richer than Musk right now are Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, with $184bn, and Microsoft’s Bill Gates who owns $129bn. Gates has committed over $50bn for the fight against poverty and diseases.

Elon Musk is among the billionaires who have agreed to the Giving Pledge founded by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. The philanthropic initiative encourages the world’s richest to donate at least 50% of their wealth for good causes.

Following the admission to the S&P 500, the share price of Tesla increased to $460, from $409. The automobile company joining the index is vital as passive funds keeping track of the index will buy the company’s shares.

According to an S&P Dow Jones Indices spokesperson, Tesla will be among the largest weight additions in the last 10 years, thus generating one of the largest funding trades in the index’s history.

Tesla now owns the highest market value despite manufacturing a small number of vehicles. This year, the auto company is set to launch around 500,000 vehicles, compared to 10m of Toyota.

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