Elon Musk becomes second richest as net worth grows $100 billion, surpassing Bill Gates

Elon Musk, the Tesla boss and CEO of SpaceX,  has jumped to second place in the rankings of global wealth with a net worth of $127.9 billion.

 

His worth increased $7.2 billion in the past week as shares for Tesla rose 6.5 percent, allowing him to pass Microsoft founder Bill Gates' net worth of $127.7 billion.

Musk rose above Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently as well, but still has a considerable way to go to pass Jeff Bezos, the No. 1 luck richest person in the world with a value of $182 billion.

A strong year for Tesla has dramatically increased Musk's wealth by $100 billion this year, the majority of his net worth. The company's market value just reached $500 billion and things continue to look promising for the most valuable electric car company in the world. 

Gates and Musk have both thrown digs at each other in recent months over disagreements. In July, Gates criticized Musk for not taking COVID-19 seriously by downplaying concerns. He said that Musk shouldn't “confuse areas he’s not involved in too much," which led Musk to clap back in Twitter.

Musk also said earlier this year that his conversations with Gates had been “underwhelming” after Gates bought an electric car from Porsche.