Elon Musk's fortune up $8.5b, soars past Buffett in billionaire ranking
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Mr Elon Musk celebrating the launch of his SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK • Mr Elon Musk is now richer than Mr Warren Buffett.
The fortune of Tesla's founder rose US$6.1 billion (S$8.5 billion) on Friday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after the carmaker's stock surged 11 per cent.
Mr Musk is now the world's seventh-richest person, also ahead of tech titans Larry Ellison and Sergey Brin.
The 49-year-old owns about a fifth of Tesla's outstanding stock, which comprises the bulk of his US$70.5 billion fortune.
His majority ownership of closely held SpaceX accounts for about US$15 billion.
Shares of the electric carmaker have risen 269 per cent this year.
The firm's booming valuation helped Mr Musk land a US$595 million pay-day earlier this year, making him the highest-paid chief executive in the United States.
Mr Musk is the latest tech entrepreneur to rise above Mr Buffett in the ranks of the world's richest.
Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and Google co-founders Larry Page and Brin have leapfrogged the Oracle of Omaha.
Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani also surpassed Mr Buffett this week.
Mr Mike Novogratz, the long-time money manager who now runs digital currency investor Galaxy Digital Holdings, warned that valuations of technology companies are getting way too high and that small investors should get out of the market before it crashes.
"We are in irrational exuberance - this is a bubble," he said on Friday.
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TOP 10 BILLIONAIRES
1. Jeff Bezos US$189 billion (US, tech)
2. Bill Gates US$116b (US, tech)
3. Mark Zuckerberg US$93.0b (US, tech)
4. Bernard Arnault US$92.6b (France, consumer)
5. Steve Ballmer US$76.8b (US, tech)
6. Larry Page US$72.7b (US, tech)
7. Elon Musk US$70.5b (US, tech)
8. Sergey Brin US$70.4b (US, tech)
9. Mukesh Ambani US$70.2b (India, energy)
10. Warren Buffett US$69.2b (US, diversified)
* US$1 is equivalent to S$1.50
"The economy is grinding, slowing down, we're lurching in and out of Covid-19, yet the tech market makes new highs every day. That's a classic speculative bubble."
Mr Buffett's fortune dropped last week when he donated US$2.9 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to charity.
The 89-year-old has given away more than US$37 billion of Berkshire shares since 2006.
BLOOMBERG
