I grew up regarding Bill Gates as the uncontested richest person in the world.
So when Jeff Bezos overtook him a few years ago, that was a pretty big thing to me.
As the economy grows ever so turbulent, the ranking of the richest people in the world and their wealth are ever-changing.
In the last year, we’ve seen an unprecedented rise in the wealth of one billionaire.
Elon Musk’s Wealth Rockets by US$150 billion
Yes, in the past year alone, a rally in Tesla’s share price fuelled a rocket jump in his wealth by more than US$150 billion.
US$150 billion.
I’d be a very happy man indeed if I could have just 0.0001% of that amount.
While yes, of course, Elon Musk did not gain 150 billion dollars worth of cash in his POSB savings account; that’s not how economics work.
Instead, it’s all about assets.
Richest Person in the World
Due to his rapid rise in wealth due to the Tesla shares that he held, he officially overtook the previous titleholder Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world.
His current net worth reigns at over US$188.5 billion, which is roughly equal to S$250 billion.
If you don’t know, he is the CEO of Tesla, Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp aka SpaceX.
Jeff Bezos could have held on to his title, if not for his recent divorce which cost him a quarter of this Amazon shares.
In case you think that all these billionaires do is “hog their wealth”, Bezos also donated shares worth US$680 million in November. And no, they can’t give away too much without destabilising the economy and the company’s own value.
And Elon Musk isn’t just well-known for his wealth and companies.
Elon Musk’s Tweets
If you follow him on Twitter or have seen screenshots on Facebook, you’d know that Elon Musk is a rather… eccentric person.
He’s relatively active on Twitter and often tweets random memes, nonsense, or jokes. For example:
Not everything is made of cake pic.twitter.com/oMaCmYQAwx
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2020
He’s possibly quite “chill” guy. Would love to hang out with him.
Well, what’s his reaction to these updates in his wealth?
How strange
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
“How strange”
Well, back to work …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021
“Well, back to work …”
Honestly, that seems about right.
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