Elon Musk Overtakes Ambani To Become 4th Richest In the World

Elon Musk, the outspoken tech entrepreneur, has become the fourth richest in the world after shares of Tesla Inc surged over 11 percent on NASDAQ on Monday to hit a record high. Musk, who is also the CEO of the American electric vehicle and clean energy company, holds nearly 21 percent stake in it.

At Monday's closing price of $1835.64 per share, Musk's net worth swelled by $7.8 billion to $84.8 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is just $0.2 billion ahead of French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, the wealthiest European.

On the other hand, Mukesh Ambani, the richest person in Asia, saw his net worth fall by $776 million on Monday to become the sixth wealthiest person in the world at $78.8 billion. The chairman of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) had a few days ago surpassed Arnault to become the fourth richest person after shares of his company touched a new record high.

Ambani is now $0.6 billion richer than ace investor Warren Buffet.

The top three richest people in the world continue to be Amazon's Jeff Bezos ($188 billion), Microsoft's Bill Gates ($121 billion) and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg ($99 billion). Amid the coronavirus pandemic, shares of tech giants have been rallying, pushing the net worth of the largest stakeholders of these companies.

According to a Bloomberg report, Musk holds the potential to increase his fortune further as his aerospace manufacturing and space transportation services company Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (trading as SpaceX), is close to finalizing $2 billion in new funding that would increase its equity valuation to $46 billion. Musk, the founder and CEO of the company, holds 54 percent of its equity.