Elon Musk, the maverick chief executive of Tesla, has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person with a $128bn (£97bn) fortune after the electric car company he helped found 17 years ago soared in value to more than $500bn. Tesla shares, which have risen more than six-fold this year, jumped 4.6% on Tuesday to $546-a-share taking its stock market value to $517bn. Musk, who owns 20% of Tesla’s shares, saw his wealth jump by $7.2bn to $128bn on Tuesday, overtaking Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos remains the world’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The world’s richest people have seen their fortunes soar despite the pandemic as many have benefited from the shift to home working and online delivery.

Source: The Guardian November 24, 2020 08:10 UTC