Tesla CEO Elon Musk has regained the title of the world’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The rally in Tesla’s stock price on Monday increased Musk’s net worth by almost $7bn, bringing it up to $187bn. He reclaimed the top spot from Bernard Arnault, the French luxury goods magnate, after experiencing a significant decline in wealth in late 2022. At that time, Musk became the first person to accumulate and then lose $200bn. In November 2021, his wealth peaked at around $340bn and fell to approximately $128bn at the beginning of 2023.
Musk’s fortune is primarily derived from his stake in Tesla. The electric car manufacturer lost almost two-thirds of its value in 2022 due to concerns about weakening demand and Musk’s purchase of Twitter, which many felt distracted him from his work as CEO. While Musk’s issues with Twitter persist, the price of Tesla shares has risen by almost 90% since the beginning of 2023.
Tesla will hold its annual Investor Day at its factory in Austin, Texas, later today. Musk is expected to discuss future products, such as the long-awaited Cybertruck and Semi Truck, as well as plans to expand the company’s production infrastructure globally. The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also announced that Musk promised him by phone that Tesla would build a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico, which would create numerous jobs and represent a significant investment.
Although Tesla already has plants in China and Germany, analysts suggest that it may expand to Canada and Indonesia. However, the carmaker continues to face challenges, including increased scrutiny of its driver assistance technology. Tesla recently issued a recall of 362,000 vehicles after regulators said that its Full Self-Driving Beta software did not follow traffic laws. In addition, shareholders filed another lawsuit against Musk on Monday, alleging that Tesla’s repeated exaggeration of its self-driving capabilities amounted to fraud.
