Musk becomes first person ever to see wealth top $500bn

Tesla boss Elon Musk has change into the primary individual ever to attain a web price of greater than $500bn (£370.9bn), as the worth of the electrical automobile firm and his different companies have risen this 12 months.The tech magnate’s web price briefly reached $500.1bn on Wednesday afternoon New York time, earlier than dipping barely to only over $499bn later within the day, the Forbes’ billionaires index reported. Alongside Tesla, valuations of his different ventures, together with the synthetic intelligence startup xAI and rocket firm SpaceX, have additionally reportedly climbed in latest months.The milestone additional cements Musk’s standing because the world’s richest individual, properly forward of rivals within the international tech sector.In response to Forbes’ billionaires index, Oracle founder Larry Ellison is the world’s second richest individual, with a fortune of about $350.7bn.Musk’s big wealth is carefully tied to his greater than 12% stake in Tesla, which has seen its shares rise sharply this 12 months. Tesla shares had been greater than 3.3% increased on the finish of New York buying and selling on Wednesday and have now risen by over 14% this 12 months.The corporate’s shares have been making good points in latest months as traders welcome Musk focusing extra time on his firms relatively than politics.He confronted criticism earlier this 12 months over his work with the Trump administration’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), the physique tasked with decreasing US authorities spending and slicing jobs.The chair of Tesla’s board, Robyn Denholm, mentioned in September that Musk was now “entrance and centre” on the carmaker.Additionally final month, Musk introduced that he had purchased about $1bn price of Tesla shares in what has been seen by some traders as a vote of confidence within the agency.Tesla has confronted quite a lot of challenges in recent times, together with powerful competitors from rival electrical automobile makers akin to China’s BYD.The corporate can also be within the means of transitioning into a man-made intelligence (AI) and robotics enterprise.