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Shares of the electric car giant run by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk rose to their highest price since early this year in trading on Friday, as the net worth of Musk, who was hit hard by his controversial purchase and leadership of Twitter, is once again close to becoming the largest in history. the world.
key facts
Shares of Tesla rose 3% on Friday, and are now up 16% over the past week as the automaker has been riding optimism about its prospects at home and abroad after a partnership with Ford, opening up EV chargers for the American automaker’s vintage cars, and Musk meeting with Chinese businessmen and politicians.
Musk’s visit to China is crucial to Tesla’s outlook given that the nation accounts for about a fifth of Tesla sales, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients Tuesday, while Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney noted last week that the Ford partnership represents a “gradually positive” “modest” for Tesla stock, as it should generate up to $3 billion in new revenue.
Tesla’s $214 share price is the highest since mid-February — a huge boon for Musk and his fortune: The 51-year-old’s $207 billion net worth is 19% higher than it was just a month ago, according to Forbes‘ mathematical calculations.
Musk, who lost his role as the world’s richest man to French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault late last year, is now trailing Arnault by just about $13 billion, a sharp drop from March, when the gap was more than $30 billion.
Amazing fact
Musk’s wealth is now at its highest point in 2023, up about 50% from its January low of just under $140 billion, though it’s still well below its late 2021 peak of about $320 billion.
main background
After hitting an adjusted adjusted high of $410 in November 2021, Tesla shares are down 75% to a two-year low of $102 in January, thanks in large part to Musk’s Twitter-related animosities. But the stock has since rallied significantly after strong quarterly earnings reports. Musk owns about 13% of Tesla, which is 58% of his net worth as of March, while his stakes in Twitter and private aerospace and communications giant SpaceX make up nearly 38% of his wealth. Musk became the first rich person on Earth in September 2021 after passing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and held on to the crown for 14 months until Tesla’s stock crash throughout 2022 caused him to slide behind Arno in December. Musk offloaded more than $40 billion in Tesla stock between November 2021 and December 2022. Much of the sales were to fund his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.
the shadow
After overtaking Bezos as the world’s richest person in September 2021, Musk famously wrote an email to Forbes: “Send a giant figurine of the number ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal.” It’s unclear if Musk plans to rub it in on Arnault if he comes back richer than the Frenchman.
Further reading
Elon Musk visits China amid escalating geopolitical tensionsForbes)
Behind the Billions: Elon Musk (Forbes)
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