Tech-fortunes: Elon Musk is again the world’s richest@$187 billion
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: A group of Bengaluru men worshipped his picture on Tuesday when Tesla&Twitter chief Elon Musk regained his slot as the world’s wealthiest man with a net worth of USD 187 billion.
His wealth zoomed by USD 50 billion since January 1, 2023, surpassing French businessman Bernard Arnault, now the second richest man on the planet, with a wealth of USD 185 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is in the third spot, with USD 117 billion, the media reported.
Musk, who owns a 13 percent stake in Tesla, the electric vehicle (EV) company, regained the top slot because of a rally in his Tesla stocks that outpaced the rally in the Nasdaq 100 Index this year. Tesla’s stock price surged 92 percent this year while Nasdaq 100 jumped 11 percent.
In 2022, Musk mostly remained on the top but his controversial acquisition of the microblogging platform for USD 44 billion in October. It triggered a bloodbath for Tesla’s share price, leading to a fall in his net worth, and Arnault relegated him to the second spot until Monday.
This year, Arnault’s net worth rose by USD 23.3 billion, while Bezos gained USD 10.2 billion in January and February 2023. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and global investor Warren Buffett are the other two businessmen in the top five.
With a net worth of USD 81.1 billion, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is now the only Indian to feature in the top 10 of the global billionaires’ list. He lost USD 6.02 billion this year but managed to stay amongst the top ten.
Gautam Adani, who was placed third on the list until about a month ago, now occupies the 32nd spot, with a net worth of USD 37.7 billion. This year, he lost USD 82.8 billion after January 24 when a US-based short seller, Hindenburg Research’s report claimed that the Adani Group stocks were “overpriced”, causing a sharp fall in his wealth.
Since then, almost all the shares in the Adani Group companies have suffered a sell-off in the Indian markets.
As Elon Musk regained his top position on the billionaires’ list, a group of his fans, who gathered under the banner of Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), a men’s rights organization, worshipped him.
They said they had also regained their right to free expression after Musk took over Twitter.
