Elon Musk net worth: World’s richest person worth more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, worth $230 billion, more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is now the world’s richest person, with his net worth estimated at a massive $230 billion.

As of Friday morning, the 50-year-old outstripped fellow billionaires with a fortune equal to that of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index places Gates in fourth place with $130 billion and Buffett at tenth, with $102 billion.

Both men have previously held the mantle of world’s richest person.

Mr Musk first passed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man in January. Mr Bezos – whose net worth is $191 billion - has held the title since 2017.

Mr Musk added more than $60 billion to his fortune this year thanks to the strong performance of Tesla stock, plus a share sale at SpaceX which valued the company at $100 billion.

The SpaceX deal added $11 billion to Musk’s net worth, Bloomberg reported.

Mr Bezos, who was recently the recipient of Mr Musk’s trolling when the Tesla executive tweeted a silver medal emoji at him, is still the second-wealthiest person on earth.

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, is the world’s richest man worth $230 billion, more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined. Picture: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP

Mr Gates and Mr Buffett are noted for giving way their wealth, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars to charitable causes, while Mr Musk has been criticised for not giving away enough of his riches.

Earlier this year, Mr Musk pledged to give away $150 million, including a $100 million prize in a carbon removal contest.

Mr Musk grew up in South Africa before moving to Canada aged 17, and then California where he became a young entrepreneur, founding software and then banking companies — one of which was merged to become PayPal.

In the early 2000s he formed aerospace manufacturer SpaceX and electric vehicle company Tesla Motors.

The world’s richest man Elon Musk (above with his then-girlfriend, musician Grimes in 2018) has poked fun at himself, including the name they chose for their son, X Æ A-12. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

He has been a controversial figure subject to criticism because of his unorthodox stance on issues including artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and more recently the origins of Covid-19.

Earlier this year he revealed he has Asperger Syndrome and poked fun at his own eccentricities and sometimes bizarre Twitter posts.

He said in May while guest-hosting Saturday Night Live: “Look I know I sometimes say or post strange things but that’s just how my brain works.

“To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending humans to Mars on a rocket ship.

“Did you also think I was going to be a chill, normal dude?”

Mr Musk went on to poke fun at the name he and then-girlfriend, the musician Grimes, chose for their young son, X Æ A-Xii.

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