In the Battle of the Billionaires, SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has come out on top as the winner, overtaking Jeff Bezos' spot at the pinnacle of the list. According to Bloomberg business magazine, Tesla shares on early Thursday afternoon gave a 5% rise in shares and lifted the value of Musk's stock options by around $9.3 billion to $190 billion. A smaller rise of about 2% for Amazon lifted Bezos' shares by $2.7 billion, putting him at $187 billion.
Coming behind them at number three at a distant third is Bill Gates, who has a $132 billion net worth. The Bloomberg real-time billionaire tracker still has Bezos ahead of Musk, but have already posted an article confirming the new update. The Amazon CEO lost $4.3 billion in the value of his stocks, which fell on concerns that the company and other Big Tech stocks might face greater scrutiny and regulation on the industry with the Democrats now controlling the senate.
Musk is the primary shareholder and CEO of SpaceX, which is privately held and does not face the same type of market fluctuations as Tesla. Bezos' stake in Amazon shares increased by $75 billion for a total of $173.3 million during the pandemic, while Musk's holdings in Tesla increased in value by a dramatic $106 billion during 2020.
Musk has also never disposed of any Tesla shares, while Bezos has sold off or given away many of them through charitable donations. Musk, a leading advocate for switching cars from gas to electric, is close to being worth more than one of the largest American oil companies ExxonMobil, which is currently worth $192 billion.