Elon Musk is rapidly approaching a return to the top of the list of the world's richest people.
After an unstable period in early 2023, the personal fortune of Tesla, SpaceX and X (Twitter) head Elon Musk is growing rapidly again. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, over the past five trading sessions on the stock exchanges, the third richest man on the planet today earned an impressive $37.3 billion. This is his largest weekly capital gain since March 2022 - literally on the eve of Musk’s fateful decision to buy out the popular social network Twitter for record $44 billion in one of the largest leveraged transactions.
The key factor was the sharp rise in the price of shares of Tesla, owned by Musk. Their price jumped 36.4% in three trading days after a series of positive news. First, it became known that Tesla has finally received long-awaited permission from the Chinese authorities to introduce its driver assistance system in the world's largest automobile market. Second, last Friday the company formally announced plans to introduce a more affordable electric vehicle model in 2023, easing investors' concerns about a potential drop in revenue due to declining demand.
According to Bloomberg estimates, just last Monday Musk increased his personal capital by $18.5 billion - this is the 13th largest daily increase for any billionaire on the global ranking of the richest people. Currently, his fortune is estimated at $201.5 billion, and he is very close to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is in second place, and has also overtaken the creator of social networks Facebook and Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg.
Elon Musk, 52, derives his wealth primarily from his roughly 25% stake in Tesla, as well as his holdings in aerospace company SpaceX and social media platform X (formerly Twitter). However, despite its recent impressive run, Tesla shares spent most of 2023 with the worst performance in the S&P 500 index amid the manufacturer's forced price cuts and an unexpected drop in deliveries of electric cars to consumers.
As for X, the social network's value has plummeted by about 73% since it was acquired by Musk in October 2022, according to a March estimate from Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund, which invested in the company jointly with the entrepreneur. But the value of SpaceX, on the contrary, increased by more than 40% from mid-2022 to the end of 2023.
Musk faces a number of internal challenges that he will have to resolve in the near future. In particular, Tesla asked its own shareholders to re-vote on the $56 billion compensation package for the company's founder, previously annulled by a Delaware court. If shareholders again reject this package, then Musk faces the loss of options on Tesla shares, which make up almost a quarter of his personal capital, according to Bloomberg index estimates. Billionaires Index.
Thus, despite the renewed growth of his personal fortune, Elon Musk faces many difficult tasks, the solution of which will determine his future fate in the elite club of the richest people on the planet.
