Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and grew up in the country before moving across the Atlantic to find his fortune, has overtaken Microsoft founder Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person. The news was greeted with mixed reactions by South Africans. On Twitter, some are urging Musk to donate funds to South Africa; others say the environment should be made more investor-friendly to entice smart thinkers like the tech entrepreneur to do business in SA. – Jackie Cameron
Leave Elon Musk alone.
Some tweeps are trying to guilt Elon to “send some money back home”.
How about we encourage him (and the global capital elite) to invest here rather than ask for their charity?
And we encourage it by doing some really simple basic things.
— VT (@VusiThembekwayo) November 25, 2020
His success is truly inspiring. And imagine if he built a school or invested in a world first, right here where he grew up and went to school. Imagine the possibility… #ElonMusk https://t.co/F0PHVjPQiR
— CATHERINE Constantinides (@ChangeAgentSA) November 25, 2020
If Elon Musk had stayed in South Africa they would still be asking for his BEE status before he could sell a single car or launch any rockets.
Our problems are self made by idiots who think solving poverty is about making everyone equal.
— Jonathan Witt (@Jonathan_Witt) November 25, 2020
Elon Musk overtakes Bill Gates to grab world’s second-richest ranking
By Devon Pendleton
(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk’s year of dizzying ascents hit a new apex Monday as the Tesla Inc. co-founder passed Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person.The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth soared $7.2 billion to $127.9 billion, driven by yet another surge in Tesla’s share price. Musk has added $100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. In January he ranked 35th.Read more: Tesla Hits $500 Billion Mark After Soaring 547% This YearHis advance up the wealth ranks has been driven largely by the electric automaker, whose market value hit $500 billion after Tesla shares rallied further on Tuesday.About three-quarters of his net worth is comprised of Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times as much as his stake in Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.
Members of the world’s $100 billion club:
1. Jeff Bezos
2. Elon Musk
3. Bill Gates
4. Mark Zuckerberg
5. Bernard Arnault
6. That’s it
7. Not youhttps://t.co/Dr6FnUcqHA— Businessweek (@BW) November 25, 2020
Musk’s milestone marks only the second time in the index’s eight-year history that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Gates has ranked lower than number two. He held the top spot for years before being bumped by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos in 2017. Gates’s net worth of $127.7 billion would be much higher had he not donated so prodigiously to charity over the years. He has given more than $27 billion to his namesake foundation since 2006.
With Monday’s move, Musk unseats an occasional verbal sparring partner in Gates, who the Tesla billionaire has ridiculed on Twitter for, among other things, having “no clue” about electric trucks. The two have also traded barbs over Covid-19. Gates, whose charitable foundation is one of the preeminent bodies backing vaccine research, has expressed concern over Musk’s stated suspicion of pandemic data and embrace of certain conspiracy theories.
The year has been a lucrative one for the world’s richest people. Despite the pandemic and widespread layoffs that have disproportionately affected the world’s working class and poor, the members of the Bloomberg index have collectively gained 23% — or $1.3 trillion — since the year began.
Those in the electric vehicle industry, though, have been particular beneficiaries. The combined fortune of Zeng Yuqun and Huang Shilin, Chairman and Vice Chairman of China’s biggest electric-vehicle battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., has soared by $18.8 billion year-to-date, according to the index.
(Updates with Chinese billionaires in last paragraph)
–With assistance from Jack Witzig.
Woke up in the middle of the night back in 2018 with a clear thought in my head: @elonmusk will become the wealthiest man on earth in the 2020s. Worked my way backwards to what that would mean for $TSLA price. Insane upside! So I started buying. Happening faster than I thought.
— Geir Engdahl (@GeirEngdahl) November 25, 2020
This may come as a surprise to millions of parents. https://t.co/4gxxeCaQDp
— Inc. (@Inc) November 25, 2020
Also read:
Tesla shareholders, including Elon Musk, get richer as Tesla joins S&P 500 – With insights from The Wall Street Journal
Clash of the tech giants: Elon Musk slams Bill Gates on Twitter – ‘He has no clue’
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