Madiha Yaqoob
After an ongoing competition Elon Musk has once again overtaken Amazon chief Jeff Bezos to claim the title of wealthiest person in America. With this victory Musk regains his ranking as the second wealthiest person in the world which he has maintained despite an overwhelming number of changes over the past few weeks. Few weeks later we have read the news that Elon Musk loses world’s richest person title to Jeff Bezos but now he regained his position.
Key facts:
On Monday Musk’s worth increased by almost $5.5 billion pushing him ahead of Bezos whose wealth increased by a relatively modest $450 million. According to expert estimations Bezos is worth approximately $193.2 billion while Musk’s net worth is projected to be around $194 billion. In spite of this change in the wealth landscape in America the world’s attention is still fixed on Bernard Arnault of LVMH, whose estimated net worth is $234.9 billion.
Tesla’s stock surge:
Musk’s comeback in fortune has come along with a sharp increase in the price of Tesla’s shares which saw a sharp rise after the company announced that the pricing of its Model Y electric car would be adjusted in some countries. This choice is a reversal of earlier reduction intentions in pricing.
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Tesla’s stock price jumped by 5.59% on Monday which was the biggest percentage increase in a single day since November 14, 2023, when it increased by 6.12%. On the same day however Amazon’s stock had a much smaller increase of only 0.24%.
Background and challenges:
Musk’s recent victory has been framed by a number of difficulties Tesla and the larger electric vehicle sector have experienced. Tesla’s stock fell 4.5% last week to below $170 marking a ten month low. The fact that analysts viewed Tesla as a “growth company with no growth” contributed to this fall. The difficulties faced by Tesla in 2024 are similar to those of its rivals in the electric car industry such as Rivian, Lucid and Nio whose stock values have fallen by more than 70% from their peak in 2021. Even if its market capitalization has dropped by almost 30% in 2024 and it is no longer among the top 10 U.S. corporations Tesla is still a major player in the industry despite these setbacks.
Notably Musk still owns a sizable portion of Tesla—roughly 21% of the stock and options—in the business.
Final words:
Finally, Elon Musk’s reclamation of the top spot in America’s wealthiest person rankings highlights the dynamic and erratic nature of wealth rankings in today’s business environment. Musk’s fortunes are still closely tied to the success and direction of the business he co founded and currently manages as Tesla continues to negotiate possibilities and obstacles in the electric vehicle industry.
