The Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Elon Musk has overtaken Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the wealthiest person in the world, according to Bloomberg on Thursday.
South African-born Musk is a major shareholder at Tesla ad has reaped from the burgeoning electric car company’s rising share price over the last year. According to CNBC, Elon Musk is estimated to be worth $185 billion.
Elon Musk’s other business venture is his SpaceX company, a space transportation company which he fouded in 2002.
READ ALSO: Donald Trump Promises ‘Orderly Transition’ To Joe Biden’s Presidency
The year 2020 saw Tesla record growth as its auto production increased, the company broke ground on new factories and reported a series of profitable quarters that enabled shares to rise more than 700 percent during the year as it was added to the prestigious S&P 500 index.
Musk has hit a stride after stumbling in 2018, when US securities regulators required the Tesla chief to step down as chairman and pay $20 million to settle charges he defrauded investors with false claims on Twitter in August about a possible bid to take the company private, which was quickly aborted.
Shares of Tesla surged 5.9 percent to $800.43 in late morning trading, lifting the company’s market capitalization above $750 billion.
