Tesla Motors has now surpassed an insane $1 trillion in total market value, making it only the fifth ever American company to do so.
According to the BBC, Tesla's shares increased by roughly 16.2% after striking a deal with Hertz, a car rental company to whom they're contracted to sell a total of 100,000 EVs.
Hertz ordered a fleet of Tesla Model 3s with a total value of $4.2 billion. The company plans to have their EV fleet ready for renters by late next year, as per a report by CNBC:
After the deal with Hertz, Tesla Motors follows Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet (the owner of Google) to be the first American companies to reach $1 trillion in market value.
Tesla's current market value, however, is still lagging behind the first four companies to reach the milestone. According to CNN, they're still worth less than half of Apple ($2.5 trillion) and Microsoft ($2.3 trillion).
This milestone, however, was achieved in record time. Tesla is now the second-fastest company to reach the trillion-dollar mark, taking over 11 years to surpass it since going public in 2010.
This puts Elon Musk's EV venture in second place behind Zuckerberg's social media empire, which reached $1 trillion in just 9 years.
Is Demand For EVs Increasing At A Rapid-Enough Pace For This?
The short answer is yes. While electric vehicles used to be very exclusive, they're slowly becoming more mainstream.
BusinessWire predicts that the global market for EVs is expected to grow rapidly until 2030, with electric passenger cars being the fastest-growing component of the EV market.
This is already evident in the Hertz-Tesla Motors deal, which will allow more people to experience electric vehicles even if they don't own one themselves.
Furthermore, a lot of countries and major cities around the world are improving their infrastructure to better deal with the influx of electric vehicles.
A perfect example is New York, which has added more charging stations around the city to further encourage residents to buy EVs instead of gas-powered cars.
These chargers will allow New Yorkers to charge their electric vehicles for $2.50 an hour during daytime, and $1 an hour overnight. Overall, NYC's EV infrastructure now boasts over 1,600 chargers.
MASSIVE Payday For Tesla Motors' Elon Musk
With his company surpassing $1 trillion in market value, Elon Musk is just going to get even richer.
Musk, who owns a 23% stake in the company, will now be worth an astronomical $230 billion owing to Tesla Motors' stock closing at a record $1.024.86 per stock, reports Reuters.
Furthermore, his stake also includes options such as buying shares at a massive discount whenever his company hits a series of market milestones. In other words, Elon Musk's fortune is just going to keep growing alongside the increase in demand for electric vehicles.
As of this writing, the Tesla founder and CEO's projected net worth puts him above bitter Big Tech rival and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is currently worth $191.7 billion according to Business Insider.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
