By Abimbola Ogunnaike
Tesla founder and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has solidified his position as the world’s richest man, after his net worth jumped to $250.4 billion.
The new figure represents an $11 billion increase in the last five days.
Musk’s net worth had previously been pegged at $239 billion, based on data from the Forbes Billionaire Index, before it surged by a remarkable $107 billion in just seven months.
The 52-year-old South African-born business magnate income streams primarily flow from his stakes in Tesla and his current ownership of Twitter, which he acquired for $44 billion in April 2022.
Musk’s had briefly lost his position as the richest billionaire to Bernard Arnault a few months back, before reclaiming it with a net worth of $192 billion.
Forbes reported that Elon Musk owns approximately 23% of Tesla, according to a regulatory filing in April 2023.
As Tesla’s largest individual shareholder, owning a whopping 412.6 million shares, Musk witnessed shares surge to $281.38 as the market closed, with the initial share price standing at approximately $277, according to market watch.
Musk’s SpaceX, founded in 2002, currently holds a valuation of $127 billion after a successful funding round in May 2022, representing a remarkable fourfold increase in just three years.
Looking back, Tesla stock hit a two-year low in November, with shares falling to $167.87, largely influenced by a stock price drop that occurred following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
Recently, the Twitter owner spoke about Twitter’s dwindling revenue, disclosing that the platform is currently grappling with a 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue and a significant “heavy debt load,” leading to a negative cash flow.
