Step aside Jeff Bezos. There’s a new richest person in the world, and it’s Elon Musk, founder of electric car company, Tesla.
Musk, who also runs SpaceX and The Boring Company, is estimated to be worth more than $185 billion, while Amazon founder Bezos, who held the title since 2017, is worth $184 billion.
In response to the news, Musk tweeted “How strange,” and then “Well, back to work …”
According to CNBC, Elon’s rise to the top of the list is the fastest in history, reporting that at the start of 2020, he was worth $27 billion, which only put him in the top 50 richest people.
In July, Musk was only the seventh richest person, passing investing icon Warren Buffett. In November, he passed Microsoft founder Bill Gates to become the second richest.
One driver of Musk’s rapid rise is that stock in his electric car company, Tesla, increased nine times in value over the past year. Musk currently owns about 20% of the company and is heavily compensated in company stock.