ELON Musk has seen his wealth skyrocket thanks to Tesla being accepted onto a stock market index yesterday.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has amassed $15billion (£11.3billion) on top of his already hefty fortune.
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That means Musk now has a net worth of around $117.5billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
It’s all thanks to Tesla being accepted on the S&P 500, a major US stock market index.
Tesla’s share prices surged thanks to the news and Musk has a hefty 20% stake in his company.
This happened on Monday, shortly followed by SpaceX sending four astronauts to space.
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As well as looking set to become the world’s third richest person, Musk also tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend.
It’s thought that he only has a mild case of coronavirus.
He tweeted to say his symptoms were like a “a minor cold.”
You may think $15billion is very impressive but Musk has made $90billion this year as Tesla’s share prices have risen.
The car firm has a stock market value of over $400billion, despite only making around 140,000 cars a year.
Tesla will officially be included on the S&P 500 on December 21.
Who is Elon Musk?
Here’s what you need to know…
Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971.
As a 12-year-old child he taught himself computer programming and sold the code of a video game to a PC magazine for $500 (£300).
At 17, he moved to Canada to study, before gaining two degrees in physics and business at the University of Pennsylvania.
At the age of 24 he moved to California to start a Ph.D. in applied physics and material science at Stanford University – but left the programme after just two days to pursue other projects.
Now 48, he is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, co-founder and chairman of SolarCity, co-chairman of Opan AI, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of X.com, which merged with PayPal.
He’s also working on a human brain chip project called Neuralink.
His stated aim is to reduce global warming and save humans from extinction by setting up a colony on Mars.
The billionaire inventor is also working on the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to store renewable energy.
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In other space news, space debris threatens to trap humanity on Earth.
Our Solar System used to have an extra planet that ‘escaped’, according to new research.
And, a huge asteroid nicknamed the ‘God of Chaos’ is gaining speed as it travels towards Earth.
Are you impressed with Musk’s fortune? Let us know in the comments…
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
