|
Listen now
|
Elon Musk’s net worth is soaring after it plunged to the lowest level in almost a year.
In the past five days, the world’s third-richest person has gained $37.3 billion in net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s his largest weekly gain since March 2022, just before he agreed to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion in one of the biggest leveraged buyout deals in history. Since then, his fortune has tumbled just as often as it has increased after a breathtaking ascent in 2020 and 2021.
Musk met Sunday with Premier Li Qiang, who as the Chinese Communist Party secretary for Shanghai helped the company set up what is now its top plant globally. His private jet left Beijing on Monday, according to FlightRadar24.
The developments came after Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk made an unannounced trip to China on Sunday, seeking approval for driver-assistance software that could help arrest the carmaker’s revenue decline. While the company’s suite of features require constant supervision and don’t make Teslas autonomous, the company charges $8,000 for them in the US, or $99 a month for a subscription.
Musk added $18.5 billion to his fortune on Monday alone, the 13th-largest market-driven daily gain for any billionaire on Bloomberg’s wealth index and Musk’s seventh-biggest. With a net worth of $201.5 billion, he’s close to overtaking second-place Jeff Bezos.
Musk, 52, derives his wealth primarily from his stake in Tesla, as well as his holdings in Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Prior to the recent rally, Tesla spent much of the year as the worst-performing stock on the S&P 500 Index amid price cuts and a surprise drop in vehicle deliveries. The value of X, meanwhile, has slumped about 73% since Musk bought it two years ago, according to a March valuation from the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund, which invested alongside him.
One bright spot for Musk’s wealth has been SpaceX, which gained more than 40% in value between mid-2022 and the end of 2023.
Follow the MoneyCentral Nigeria channel on WhatsApp: Click here!