Elon Musk added US$33.5 billion ($44.22 billion) to his net worth Thursday as Tesla shares posted their biggest gain in more than a decade, extending the world’s richest man’s lead atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Shares ended the day up 22% and turned positive for the year after the automaker reported its largest quarterly profit since the summer of 2023. Musk forecast as much as 30% growth in vehicle sales next year on a webcast following the release, and announced that the Cybertruck generated a quarterly profit for the first time.
The pop came after four straight quarters of disappointing earnings for the world’s largest electric-vehicle manufacturer, which has struggled amid slowing consumer demand.
Musk’s wealth gain was his third-largest ever and brought his fortune to US$270.3 billion, US$61 billion ahead of second-place Jeff Bezos. Tesla shares and options account for about three-quarters of his fortune, which also includes large stakes in SpaceX, social-media platform X and artificial intelligence firm xAI.
Musk, 53, has also been in the spotlight for his increasingly vocal — and costly — support of Republican candidate Donald Trump. Over the past few weeks, he has campaigned in Pennsylvania alongside Trump and spent US$75 million on his own super PAC, which has focused on funding Republican get-out-the-vote efforts and digital advertising.
Trump has said he would ask Musk to head up a new department focused on minimizing bureaucratic red tape, nicknamed the Department of Government Efficiency, if he were elected to a second term.
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In the webcast following Tesla’s earnings release, Musk said he would push for a federal approval process for autonomous vehicles if he were appointed to a role in a potential second Trump administration. Tesla is betting on autonomous vehicles as a key growth area. Musk said that he expects Tesla to begin rolling out Cybercab robotaxis in 2026 and plans for the company to eventually produce 2 million to 4 million units per year.
“My prediction is Tesla will become the most valuable company in the world, and probably by a long shot,” Musk said.
