It’s been an exciting and eventful year so far for Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The month of May alone saw him welcome a son with musician girlfriend Grimes and get access to his first payday from his electric car company.
As 2020 progresses, it seems like things are only set to get even better for him.
The Year’s Winners
Despite the rest of the world being knocked back by the coronavirus pandemic, Musk is one of the few billionaires who is experiencing growth in their net worth.
In fact, the only person who’s doing better than him in terms of gaining wealth is Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The current richest person in the world is now worth $190 billion after he added a whopping $75 billion to his fortune in just the past half of the year.
Musk’s gains may not be as large as the e-commerce magnate’s but they are still impressive nonetheless. Case in point: the recent surge in Tesla’s stock price propelled him to climb to the seventh spot on the list of wealthiest people in the world.
With $70.5 billion, the 49-year-old tech entrepreneur is now officially richer than legendary investor Warren Buffett and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Rapid Growth
Musk began the year with a fortune just below $30 billion making his current net worth even more impressive. So, how did he manage to grow his wealth so fast in so short a time?
Looking at his main sources of wealth, it appears that the growth he’s been seeing in the past months is primarily due to his stakes in Tesla, which he owns 22% of. Around 80% of his net worth is tied to the company.
Meanwhile, he also owns more than half of the aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.
Tracing Tesla’s trajectory since July of 2019 to today, the company saw a 550% increase in the price of its stock.
Nearing the Top
With the automaker’s growth showing no signs of stopping just yet despite the ongoing pandemic, it wouldn’t be surprising if Musk climbs a few more ranks up the richest people list in the coming months.
In fact, he’d only have to gain a couple more billion to dethrone former Google CEO Larry Page and Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer from their sixth and fifth spots.
Another thing Musk is likely looking forward to is accessing the second level of the compensation plan he signed with Tesla. This entails a payday potentially worth $1.8 billion as he gets the option to purchase 1.69 million Tesla shares at $350.02 each.
