Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly Twitter), saw his net worth surge to over $200 billion on Tuesday, reclaiming the title of the world’s second-richest person from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Musk’s net worth now stands at $201.4 billion, bolstered by a $6.6 billion daily increase driven by a notable rise in Tesla’s stock, which gained over 6% to exceed $186 per share.
Despite Tesla shares experiencing a significant drop from their peak of over $400 in late 2021, they have rebounded strongly, climbing nearly 30% over the past month. This resurgence is partly due to a reported agreement between Tesla and Chinese internet giant Baidu to bring Tesla’s electric vehicles to China.
In contrast, Jeff Bezos experienced a loss of approximately $366 million on Tuesday, reducing his net worth to $201 billion following a slight dip in Amazon shares, which fell just over 1% to around $181 per share.
Musk has alternated between the first and second spots on Forbes’ real-time billionaire list from August 2021 until March 6, when Bezos temporarily overtook him, relegating Musk to third place. Since then, the two billionaires have frequently exchanged positions, with Musk and Bezos swapping the second spot 13 times in March alone. Bezos recently regained the second spot earlier this month amid market volatility for Tesla, which boasts the largest market cap among Musk’s companies at $566.23 billion.
Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021 to become the company’s executive chairman, has seen a resurgence in his wealth. He retains roughly 10% ownership of Amazon, which has experienced a 21% increase in stock value year-to-date. Bezos also owns aerospace company Blue Origin and The Washington Post.
Currently, Musk trails only Bernard Arnault, the magnate behind luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, who holds the title of the world’s richest person.
