How Elon Musk Surpassed Mark Zuckerberg to Become World’s 3rd Richest Person

Tesla co-founder, Elon Musk is now worth $115.4 billion, surpassing Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, which now makes him the third-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zuckerberg is worth $110.8 billion.

Musk relegated the Facebook co-founder to the fourth position on the list of world’s richest persons’ list on Monday, August 31, as shares of Tesla Inc. continue to surge following a forward stock split.

The spike in the shares of Tesla is said to near 500 percent, which has seen Musk’s net worth grow by $87.8 billion this year.

Bloomberg reports that there is a deal underway, described as the largest corporate pay deal ever struck between a chief executive officer and a board of directors, that could yield Musk more than $50 billion if things go as planned.

As the global economy tank due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, founders of many leading US technology firms have been raking in millions of dollars as their stocks hit the root – investors and stock traders in the companies are also winning big.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk’s Company Neuralink Plans To Connect People’s Brains to the Internet by 2020

Tesla, makers of electric vehicles, is said to be the favourite among amateur investors on online trading firm Robinhood Financial, reaping immensely from the boom in retail investing during the pandemic lockdowns.

Last month, nearly 40,000 Robinhood Financial accounts reportedly added Tesla shares during a single four-hour span. Asides the US rush, South Korean retail investors have also taken a bite of 1 percent stake in Tesla.

The American automakers’ market value is put at $464 billion, surpassing that of retail giant Walmart Inc., which is the largest company in the U.S. by revenue.