NEW YORK, USA – Elon Musk, CEO of electric automaker Tesla, TSLA, and space exploration firm SpaceX, has reclaimed his position as the world’s wealthiest person according to Bloomberg Billionaires’ tally on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
Musk’s current net worth is estimated to be around $192 billion, eclipsing LVMH, LVMHF, CEO Bernard Arnault’s $187 billion.
The two centibillionaires, a term referring to individuals with fortunes exceeding $100 billion, have been in a close race for the top spot for several months.
However, a recent slide in LVMH’s stock value has seen Arnault’s wealth dip, allowing Musk to take the lead.
Arnault had overtaken Musk in December, propelled by a surge in luxury goods sales that significantly boosted LVMH’s stock price.
LVMH, one of the largest conglomerates globally, owns prestigious brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Celine.
Musk’s wealth is closely tied to Tesla’s fortunes, his primary asset being the company’s stock, of which he owns roughly 13%, according to Bloomberg.
Beyond Tesla, Musk also owns social media giant Twitter, TWTR.
So far this year, LVMH’s shares have increased by 19.7%, while Tesla’s have risen by a substantial 65.6%.
Musk’s Back Story
Elon Reeve Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. From an early age, Musk displayed an impressive aptitude for computing and entrepreneurship. At the age of 12, he taught himself computer programming and sold the code for a video game he had created to a computer magazine.
Musk’s parents divorced when he was a child, and he lived mainly with his father, experiencing an upbringing he later described as “excruciating.”
During these years, he was an avid reader, consuming books on various subjects that helped fuel his voracious curiosity and ambition.
After completing high school in South Africa, Musk moved to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania, where he received two bachelor’s degrees, one in physics from the College of Arts and Sciences and another in economics from the Wharton School of Business. Despite beginning a Ph.D. program at Stanford University, he left after just two days to pursue a business career.
Together with his brother Kimbal, Elon co-founded Zip2, a web software company providing business directories and maps for newspapers.
This was the beginning of his journey as an entrepreneur, which would eventually lead to the establishment of companies like PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and Neuralink – entities that have significantly disrupted various industries from online payments to space exploration, electric vehicles, renewable energy, and neurotechnology.
