It was only two weeks ago when Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the richest man in the world. The billionaire hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. Musk added more than $20 billion to his net worth in the last two weeks and is now estimated to be worth $222 Billion.
Musk's wealth skyrocketed up to over $10 billion after a secondary share sale by investors, which valued SpaceX at over $100 billion, according to CNBC.
Musk didn't only make money from SpaceX; his other company Tesla has seen its share price continue to rise. Musk owns 21 percent of the company, which is currently valued at $800 billion. They are up 13% year-to-date, but far less than the 743% gain the shares experienced in 2020.
Musk gained $8.6 billion since Friday's market closing and more than $52 billion year-to-date, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index says. Two weeks ago, The Richest reported that Musk had edged past Bezos with a net worth of $200 billion.
Much of that spike in wealth comes from SpaceX's Inspiration4. The successful mission saw Musk's rocket spend three days in space. Inspiration4 made history by being the first of its kind to feature an all-civilian crew. The mission also featured the first Black woman to serve as a spacecraft pilot, the youngest American astronaut to date, and the first person to fly in space with a prosthesis.
When Musk surpassed Bezos for the title of the world's richest man, they were neck and neck. Today, Musk has a comfortable lead of roughly $30 billion. The two men have become rivals over the years, both in net worth and with their space ambitions.
Musk took note of the reports of the widening wealth gap between the two by tweeting a silver medal to Amazon founder on Twitter. Musk has developed a reputation for taunting people over social media. When Musk passed Bezos two weeks ago, he claimed he was sending Jeff Bezos a silver medal and a 'giant statue' of the number 2. He tweeted at President Joe Biden last month to highlight SpaceX's success that he felt the president neglected.
According to CNN, Musk received $0 in pay in 2020. He did receive stock options during the year that are now worth $22 billion. And those options are worth far more due to the rise in stock price.