Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no longer competing with billionaires on the list of the world's richest, as he appears to be making a new historical mark of wealth. Last Friday, Elon Musk added more than $6 billion to his fortune, equaling the combined wealth of billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who once topped the list of the world's billionaires. The net worth of the 50-year-old man reached $236 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Gates ranks fourth with a net worth of $130 billion, while Buffett is tenth with $102 billion. Both Gates and Buffett previously held the title of the richest person in the world. Recently, Musk surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for the first time to become the richest man in the world in January, with a net worth of $185 billion. Bezos had retained the title of the richest person in the world since 2017.
Musk has added over $66 billion to his wealth this year, thanks to the strong performance of Tesla's stock, along with a recent funding round for SpaceX, which valued the company at $100 billion. This valuation individually added $11 billion to Musk's net worth.
Bezos, who was recently mocked by Musk when the Tesla CEO tweeted a silver medal emoji at him, remains the second richest person on Earth with a net worth of $197 billion. Notably, on the previous Friday, Bezos added $6.8 billion to his wealth due to the rise in Amazon's stock and the frenzy in the U.S. stock market.
Of course, Gates and Buffett would have been much closer to Musk in wealth rankings had it not been for their philanthropic donations. Both have donated tens of billions of dollars to charitable causes over the years, while Musk has been criticized for not giving away more of his vast fortune. Musk has previously stated that he prefers to remain anonymous when donating money, and earlier this year, he sought "critical feedback" from Twitter users on donating methods. This year, Musk also pledged to donate $150 million—including a $100 million prize in a carbon removal competition—an amount that Recode estimates is greater than all of his previous charitable donations combined.
