Musk overtakes Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person
A surge in Tesla's share price made Musk the top name on the main billionaire rankings in January 2021.
Archive entry. This article looks back at an event from January 7, 2021. It was drafted with AI assistance from public records and is being fact-checked. See our About page.
In early January 2021, Elon Musk passed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to take the top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and Forbes rankings of the world's richest people.
The change came mostly from Tesla, whose share price had risen sharply through 2020, and Musk's large stake in the company, along with his holdings in SpaceX.
Net-worth rankings move with the market, and the lead changed hands several times in the following years. Most of Musk's wealth is held in company shares rather than cash.
