New York [US] October 2: Billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of electric car company Tesla, has become the first person in the world to have a net worth of nearly $500 billion.
Thanks to the recovery of Tesla shares and the soaring valuations of other startups founded by Mr. Elon Musk , the billionaire's net worth has reached 500.1 billion USD as of 3:30 p.m. on October 1 (US Eastern time), according to Forbes .
Musk's fortune is tied to Tesla, in which he owns more than 12.4% of the company as of September 15. The electric car stock has risen more than 14% this year. On September 30 alone, Tesla shares rose 3.3%, helping Musk pocket more than $6 billion.
After a period of strong volatility, Tesla shares recovered and increased as investors became more confident in the direction of billionaire Musk. Mr. Robyn Denholm, Tesla's chairman, said Mr. Musk was back "center" of the company after several months of focusing much of his mental energy on work at the White House.
In addition, Mr Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI and rocket company SpaceX have also increased in value this year.
xAI was last valued at $75 billion in July, according to data from Pitchbook. Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported in July that SpaceX was discussing plans to raise capital and sell private stock in a deal that would value the company at around $400 billion.
Since March 2020, Mr. Musk's assets have increased continuously. At that time, he owned 24.6 billion USD, becoming the richest person in the world for the first time in January 2021 with 190 billion USD. Mr. Musk reached the 200 billion USD mark in September 2021, 300 billion USD in November 2021 and 400 billion USD in December 2024.
Mr. Musk is currently about $150 billion ahead of the second-placed billionaire, Larry Ellison , and is halfway to becoming the first "trillionaire."
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
