US Media: Tesla CEO Elon Musk Becomes Wealthiest Man on Earth

By Staff, Agencies

Elon Musk, the outspoken and envelope-pushing founder and CEO of Tesla, overtook Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to become the world's wealthiest person, US media reported Thursday.

Musk is a major shareholder of the electric car company and has benefited from Tesla's surging share price over the last year. CNBC estimated his wealth at $185 billion.

The distinction is the latest superlative for the South African-born Musk, who also leads the aerospace venture SpaceX.

Tesla is widely seen as a pacesetter for the car industry as conventional automakers try to catch up in electric autos.

Tesla had a strong 2020 as it ramped up production, broke ground on new factories – boosting output in California and Shanghai and moving ahead to build new factories is Texas and Germany – and reported a series of profitable quarters and was added to the prestigious S&P 500 index.

That enabled shares to rise more than 700 percent during the year, making it more valuable that the world's top carmakers combined.