Elon Musk is now the richest man alive.
On Thursday, the SpaceX and Tesla entrepreneur’s value eclipsed that of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who has held the title of “Richest Man Alive” since 2017.
Now valued at $188.5 billion, according to NBC News, the changing of the guard went into effect on Wednesday after Tesla stock rose 6 percentage points, making Musk $1.5 billion more wealthy than the Amazon founder.
When the Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley Twitter account made a post about the news on Thursday morning, Musk responded with two short messages, “How strange” and “Well, back to work ...”
In November, the South Africa-born entrepreneur was crowned the second-wealthiest man alive surpassing Microsoft founder Bill Gates. According to BBC News, Musk’s recent surge in net worth comes as the result of a Tesla stock boom that began last year and is continuing into 2021.
According to The Guardian, Tesla’s value increases sevenfold in 2020. NBC News reports that the car company is now worth more than eight times the values of GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler combined.