Elon Musk's Wealth Surpasses Zuckerberg's To Become World's 3rd Richest

As Tesla Inc's shares continued to climb after undergoing a forward stock split, the company's CEO (chief executive officer) Elon Musk's wealth on Monday rose $11.7 billion in a day to hit $115 billion. Based on Monday's closing prices on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (a live tracker of billionaire's wealth), the tech entrepreneur is the third richest person in the world, after Amazon's Jeff Bezos ($202 billion) and Microsoft's Bill Gates ($125 billion).

Musk, who holds nearly 21 percent stake of the electric vehicle and clean energy company, at least for now, has overtaken Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's net worth. Zuckerberg's wealth stood at $111 billion on the same day.

The co-founder of Tesla Inc has seen a meteoric rise in his wealth as shares of the company surged more than 475 percent this year. The stock has become a favourite among amateur investors that have picked up interest in the stock markets during the pandemic through the American financial services company Robinhood Financial.

Tesla's $454 billion market value now exceeds that Walmart, the largest company in the US by revenue.

Musk and Zuckerberg joined Gates and Bezos in the centi-billionaire club (net worth over $100 billion) on the boom in tech stock valuations as investors placed their bets on these companies amid a weakening American economy.