Elon Musk Surpasses Jeff Bezos to Become World’s Richest Person

Mr Musk's electric car company Tesla has surged in value this year, and hit a market value of $700bn for the first time on Wednesday.

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Mr Musk reacted to the news in signature style, replying to a Twitter user sharing the news with the remark «how strange». Expected electric vehicle tax credits would benefit Tesla, «which continues to have an iron grip on the market today», he added. Mr Bezos has also seen his fortunes rise over the past year. The coronavirus pandemic has meant Amazon benefited from stronger demand for both its online store and cloud computing services.

However, he gave a 4% stake in the business to his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott after they split, which helped Mr Musk overtake him. In addition, the threat of regulation has meant Amazon's stock has not risen as high as it might otherwise have done. The owner of a business which has only just made its first annual profit and is still a minnow compared to the likes of Toyota - or Amazon - is now the world's richest person. It is the fact that Tesla's share price has increased more than seven-fold in the past year that has sent Elon Musk's fortune rocketing past that of Jeff Bezos.

To believe the electric car-maker's worth could rise so rapidly in just 12 months is the ultimate example of irrational exuberance. It means that Musk will have to show within the next five years that Tesla can make more profits than just about the whole of the rest of the motor industry combined to justify the valuation.