- Musk’s net worth has grown roughly $50 billion since January and was at $186 billion by Thursday’s market close.
- That’s just $3 billion Bernard Arnault, who is currently the world’s richest man.
The recent rally in Tesla stock is helping CEO Elon Musk close in on becoming the world’s richest man once again.
Tesla stock has nearly erased losses from 2022, and is up 68% this year. In the past five days alone, Tesla stock has gained nearly 9%. And if this trend continues, Elon Musk could overtake LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault as the world’s richest person.
Musk’s wealth has grown by $50 billion this year as much of his assets are tied to Tesla stock, and is he was worth $186 billion by Thursday’s market close, according to data from the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
That’s just $3 billion behind Arnault, who surpassed Musk in December while Tesla stock was still slumping.
The trend is also in line with the broader wealth gains for billionaires so far this year, who have seen a combined jump of $140 billion in the past six weeks. The growth of their personal fortunes of the 10 richest people is larger than the market capitalization of coffee giant Starbucks.
And because Tesla is so far this week outperforming shares of Arnault’s LVMH, Musk could quickly surpass him on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Tesla shares were down 3% on Friday but up 5.7% for the week. US-listed shares of LVMH were down 1.6% on Friday, on pace for a 4.7% weekly loss. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is updated at the close of every trading day in New York.
Tesla stock slumped 65% in 2022 as rising interest rates dampened investors’ appetite for riskier bets and shareholders worried that Musk’s chaotic $44 billion takeover of Twitter would drag on Tesla’s share price.
But Tesla has staged a dramatic comeback in the early going of this year, thanks to investors’ growing faith that interest-rate cuts are coming and a strong fourth-quarter earnings report that beat Wall Street forecasts.
