Tesla CEO Elon Musk has moved up on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to the fourth spot after the electric automaker’s stock soared during trading on Monday.
After TSLA stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) closed at $1,835.64 on Monday, Musk’s net worth rose by almost $8 billion at $7.78 billion.
Musk officially passed Bernard Arnault of France’s LVMH for the fourth spot, whose net worth has dropped $20.7 billion so far in 2020. Meanwhile, Musk’s financial gains are at $57.2 billion for the year thus far.
To be clear, Musk did not receive an additional $7.78 billion in cash from TSLA’s surge. He is the electric automaker’s largest shareholder at 20.8%, which accounts for 38.7 million shares of TSLA stock.
Musk currently sits behind Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, whose net worth is at $99 billion.
Shares of TSLA have grown hand over fist so far in 2020 because the company’s demand has steadily increased. While other automotive companies have struggled in 2020 due to decreased demand and production, Tesla has grown as a company.
Internationally, Tesla is becoming one of the most popular cars in China because of the Model 3. The company’s Giga Shanghai production plant in China is also expanding to make way for the manufacturing process of the Model Y crossover, which began deliveries in the U.S. in March.
In Europe, Tesla is working on the quickly accelerating construction process at Giga Berlin, which will improve the company’s presence on the continent. The new Berlin plant is expected to produce 500,000 electric cars a year and will have around 10,000 employees, reports have stated.
In comparison to other billionaires who have gained wealth in 2020, Musk is in second place behind Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The Amazon frontman has increased his net worth by $73 billion. Bezos is the wealthiest person in the world, with a $188 billion net worth. Microsoft’s former CEO Bill Gates is second with a $121 billion net worth.
Interestingly enough, not everyone is a fan of Musk’s net worth growth during the past few months. Democratic Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders proposed a bill in early August that would impose a one-time tax on billionaires who have gained financially during the months of COVID-19.
It is unknown if the bill will pass, but it appears that Musk’s net worth will continue to rise as developments within the company’s technology continue to flourish. At the time of writing, TSLA stock was up over $70, trading at $1,906.83
Disclosure: I have no ownership in shares of TSLA and have no plans to initiate any positions within 72 hours.
