Bill Gates Loses His Spot as Second-Richest Man in the World to Elon Musk
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has lost his spot as the second-richest person in the world to Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the electric carmaker’s stock continues to surge.
Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index shows Musk barely above Gates, with both billionaires worth $128 billion.
Musk leaped past Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week, but still trails Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who sits at the top of the list with a net worth of $182 billion, the New York Post reported.
Tesla’s stock, which accounts for a majority of Musk’s net worth, has helped Musk’s wealth grow this year by $100.3 billion. Musk was ranked 35th on Bloomberg’s index in January.
Tesla shares surged by almost 28 percent in the days after the news that Tesla will be admitted to the S&P 500 index on Dec. 21.
“The carmaker’s entry to the S&P 500 means a slew of big investment funds that duplicate the index’s holdings may be forced to buy an estimated $40 billion worth of Tesla shares to avoid errors tracking the index’s performance,” the Post reported.
Tesla is the most valuable carmaker in the world with a market cap of $387 billion, over $150 billion ahead of Toyota.
This is only the second time in eight years that Gates has not been in the top two on Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, CNBC reported.
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Gates was the world’s richest person until Bezos passed him in 2017.
Gates’ net worth would be higher if he didn’t contribute to philanthropic endeavors; he has given over $27 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since 2006.
The Tesla CEO and Microsoft co-founder have publicly traded jabs this year about the coronavirus pandemic.
Gates criticized Musk’s controversial comments in a CNBC interview in July.
“Elon’s positioning is to maintain a high level of outrageous comments,” Gates said.
“He’s not much involved in vaccines. He makes a great electric car. And his rockets work well. So he’s allowed to say these things. I hope that he doesn’t confuse areas he’s not involved in too much.”
Musk countered, “Billy G is not my lover,” in a tweet referencing Michael Jackson’s 1983 song “Billie Jean.”
? Billy G is not my lover ?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2020
The billionaires on Bloomberg’s index have added 23 percent, or $1.3 trillion, to their collective net worth this year.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
