Elon Musk cements his status as world's richest man, now worth $230 billion

Tech kingpin Elon Musk continues to solidify his status as the world's richest man, with a personal fortune of $230 billion that dwarfs even that of his closest rival, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. 

The two magnates have seen dueling wealth totals in recent years, as Musk's various industrial endeavors — including electric car company Tesla and space exploration firm SpaceX — have borne fruit. Bezos, meanwhile, saw a massive jump in wealth over the course of the pandemic due to the public's high reliance on Amazon. 

Musk made headlines last week when he tweeted a not-so-subtle "second place" trophy in what was an obvious taunting of Bezos. 

The richest individual in modern history is estimated to be John D. Rockefeller, whose roughly $1 billion fortune in the early 20th century would be valued at well over $400 billion today.