Elon Musk's net worth has reached $200 billion for the first time, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI).
As of Saturday, January 10, Musk's wealth has soared by $14.5 billion, reaching $209 billion.
The billionaire's surging wealth is attributed to a rally in Tesla's share price, which rose 4.8 percent on Thursday, reaching a record $816. It helped Musk to surpass Jeff Bezos as the richest person on Earth in the BBI, as his wealth went up to $195 billion, compared to Bezos' $188.5 billion at that moment.
.@elonmusk is now the richest person in the world at $190 billion.
— Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) January 7, 2021
Musk, who recently announced he was planning to set up Tesla in India, appeared to be surprised by the news, and did not even pause to take a moment to boast about his success, instead tweeting he should get back to work.
Well, back to work …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
According to the BBI, Musk and Bezos are followed by Bill Gates of Microsoft with $134 billion, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy President Bernard Arnault with $116 billion, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg with $102 billion. All the top businessmen are from the United States and the tech industry, except for Arnault who is French and from the consumer sector.
Despite it being a pandemic-hit year, the world's richest 500 people added $1.8 trillion to their combined net worth in 2020, marking the biggest yearly gain in the history of the BBI.
