Elon Musk Is Now Richer Than Jeff Bezos, Making Him The Wealthiest Man In The World

Big bank, take little bank. Elon Musk has passed up Jeff Bezos as the richest man in the world. 

In 2017, Bezos was named the richest man in the world with a net worth of $184 billion. Now, Musk is in the first place with a net worth of more than $185 billion, CNBC reports.

His new wealth comes from Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price, a change that has been in motion over the past year. Musk was recently facing financial woes just 18 months ago over Tesla after SEC sued Musk for using his Twitter account to falsely announce that he’d secured financing to take Tesla private. The case has reported as settled back in May. But, it appears this year the tables have turned for the entrepreneur. 

In May 2020, Musk was worth about $27 billion, but when Telsa’s rocketing share price increased more than ninefold, and he was given his pay package, more than $150 billion was added to his net worth, CNBC reports. Last year, Musk barely got into the top 50 richest people bracket, and now he’s passed up the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and more.

On Thursday, Telsa shares went up more than 5 percent to nearly $800 by the afternoon trading, the outlet reports. The company’s market has grown more than $750 billion.