Views: 3
Elon Musk has entered rarified air in the world billionaire rankings. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is not only currently the richest person in the world, but is now worth as much as fellow billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.
The 50-year-old’s net worth is $230 billion as of Friday morning, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Gates sits in fourth place with $130 billion and Buffett is No. 10 with $102 billion.
Both Gates and Buffett previously held the mantle of world’s richest person. Musk first passed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man in January with a net worth of $185 billion. Bezos had held the title since 2017.
Musk has added more than $60 billion to his fortune this year thanks to the strong performance of Tesla stock as well as a recent share sale at SpaceX which valued the company at $100 billion. The SpaceX deal added $11 billion to Musk’s net worth, according to Bloomberg.
Jeff Bezos, who was recently the recipient of Musk’s trolling when the Tesla executive tweeted a silver medal emoji at him, is still the second-wealthiest person on earth with a $191 billion net worth.
Of course, Gates and Buffett would be significantly closer to Musk in the wealth rankings were it not for the duo’s philanthropic giving. Both have given away tens of billions of dollars to charitable causes over the years, while Musk has been criticized for not giving away more of his massive fortune.
Musk has previously said he prefers to remain anonymous when giving away money, and earlier this year asked Twitter users for “critical feedback” on ways he can donate.
This year, Musk also pledged to give away $150 million — including a $100 million prize in a carbon removal contest — a figure that Recode estimates is larger than all his previous charitable giving.
Copyright © CNBC.com