American entrepreneur Elon Musk made a profit of $34 billion yesterday, Monday, as Tesla's shares surged by 13.5% to reach $1,199.78 in the first trading session of the year. Musk's wealth rose to $304 billion, marking one of the largest single-day wealth increases according to Bloomberg's billionaire index. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, ranks second with a fortune of $196 billion, putting him about $108 billion behind Musk.
These significant increases in Tesla's stock came after the company set a record for electric vehicle deliveries in the fourth quarter, surpassing 308,000 cars and greatly exceeding analysts' average estimates of 263,000 vehicles. The company's market valuation climbed back above $1 trillion last month after a decline in November and early December. According to the American economic magazine Forbes, Musk's wealth is unmatched in history.
Last year, the world's billionaires added an additional trillion dollars to their wealth due to surges in stock prices and valuations, with a particularly different year for American billionaires who converted a significant portion of their paper profits into real gains after dramatically raising stock prices.
