Tesla and SpaceX CEO and billionaire Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, as his net worth crossed $185 billion. The entrepreneur rose on top of the list after Tesla's share price increased on January 7, 2021. He has now taken the spot of Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, who held the title since 2017.
Elon Musk is the richest person in the world
Musk's electric car company Tesla has seen an increase in value in 2020 and it has hit a market value of $700 billion for the first time on January 6, 2021, according to BBC.
That number makes the car company worth more than its competitors such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and GM combined.
Musk reacted to the news about his new title by replying to a Twitter user who shared the news with the caption "how strange." An older tweet pinned to the top of his Twitter feed showed insight into his thoughts regarding on personal wealth.
Musk stated that half of his money is intended to help the problems on Earth and half is to help establish a self-sustaining city on Mars to make sure that life is continued in case Earth gets hit by a meteor like the dinosaurs or WW3 happens.
The billionaire's fortunes have been buoyed by politics in the United States, where the Democrats will have control of the US Senate in the forthcoming session.
Musk's house
According to Fox Business, despite Elon Musk's net worth, he has vowed not to own a house. In 2019, he made a vow that he will not own any house and posted that vow on Twitter.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the billionaire closed on the sales of three more of his homes in California in December 2020. The three adjacent properties on a Bel Air cul-de-sac sold for a total of $40.9 million. They included a 9,309 square-foot, six-bed, seven-bath mansion that was sold for $29.72 million.
The third one is a 3,943-square-foot 1960s Colonial with four beds and five baths that went for $6.77 million and another 1960s home with four beds and four baths in 2,963 square feet that sold for $4.43 million. These sales closed on December 21 and December 22, 2020.
In May 2019, he made a bold vow not to own a house and said that he will sell all of his physical possessions. His reason is that he wants to have more freedom.
Musk began listing his homes for sale by owner on Zillow on that same month. In June 2020, Musk made his first sale which was a 16,251-square-foot mansion that has seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and a tennis court. According to The Wall Street Journal, the buyer in the $29 million deal was bought by William Ding, the CEO of NetEase.
After a few months later, he sold another property which was the former home of actor Gene Wilder. He had tweeted a stipulation that the home could not be torn down or lose its soul. According to Variety, Wilder's nephew, filmmaker Jordan Walker-Pearlman, paid $7 million to get the home.
Last month, Musk moved to Texas where SpaceX has a rocket launch site and Tesla is building a new factory and he would not have to pay any state income taxes.
Related Article: Dr. Michio Kaku Believes Elon Musk's Mars Colonization Feat is Highly Feasible with Self-Replicating Robots
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Sieeka Khan
