The title of the first person whose fortune exceeds 400 billion. dollars, officially goes to… Elon Musk.
At least that’s what the Forbes billionaires list proves. Elon Musk managed to sit “comfortably” at the top of the “competition”, ensuring a long distance from the 2nd on the list, Jeff Bezos with a fortune of 243.7 billion. dollars.
In 3rd place is the co-founder of Oracle, Larry Ellison with 223.4 billion. dollars.
The reasons that Elon Musk climbed to the podium of the list, beyond the financial successes of Tesla and SpaceX, are also the close relationship he has with Donald Trump.
But let’s take things from the beginning.
The tycoon’s fortune skyrocketed thanks to a spectacular 71% increase that Tesla stock has achieved this year, in which it has a stake of just 13%.
On Wednesday (11.12.2024), the electric car company’s stock hit an all-time high of 424.9 billion. dollars, continuing the rally that began with the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections.
Musk’s wallet “inflated” even more after the sale of a block of SpaceX shares.
The space company and its investors have agreed to buy common stock 1.25 billion dollarsBloomberg reported Tuesday.
“The crazy thing is that almost no investors wanted to sell shares even with the market value reaching 350 billion. dollars”, Elon Musk commented on the X report.
SpaceX, he added, reduced the number of shares it bought back from employees to bring in some new investors.
Tesla investors are banking on Elon Musk’s relationship with the US president-elect, hoping the businessman will play a role in shaping the new administration’s policies to favor his businesses.
Such a thing is almost certain when you consider that SpaceX is the main supplier of the Pentagon with the Starlink service and the development of spy satellites.
Both SpaceX and Neuralink, Elon Musk’s company that develops brain chips for paralyzed patients, depend on the US regulatory framework and would have much to gain from a friendlier environment, Reuters comments.
“It would be a good return for more than $250 million,” Elon Musk had said of this plan to Donald Trump’s election campaign.