Elon Musk becomes world's richest man, raising his fortune up to $348 billion

Tesla CEO and X social network owner Elon Musk broke his own record for 2021. and became the richest person in history.

Musk's fortune increased by $35 billion in the last week and is now valued at $348 billion, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dropped to second place. His fortune is estimated at $219 billion, Larry Ellison, who closes the top three. His fortune is estimated at 206 billion dollars.

The richest Russian is Vladimir Potanin ($31.9 billion). He is in 52nd place. Vladimir Lisin ($29.2 billion) and Vagit Alekperov ($27.6 billion) are in 75th and 76th place, respectively.

Musk’s numerous businesses have been surging in value since Donald Trump’s election victory propelled Musk, the so-called “first buddy,” into the political spotlight.

On November 22, Tesla shares rose 3.8%, reflecting ongoing optimism that the Trump team’s plans for self-driving cars and electric-vehicle subsidies will give Musk’s company an advantage over its peers. The stock is up 45% since November 4, the day before the election, adding about $350 billion in market value.

Musk, 53, aligned himself with Trump in the closing stages of the race, campaigning alongside him in battleground states and personally contributing more than $170 million to a PAC supporting the Republican candidate.

Current federal policy allows Tesla and other automakers to deploy just 2,500 fully autonomous vehicles per year. During Tesla’s most recent earnings call, Musk complained about being stymied by patchwork state-level regulations, such as in California, that have limited its ability to scale up its self-driving technology.  

By Khagan Isayev