According to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires website, South Africa-born Elon Musk on Monday saw his net worth pass the $200 billion mark.
In doing so, the 52-year-old South Africa-born Tesla CEO and X owner, closed the gap on France’s Bernard Arnault who occupies the No 1 spot.
The reason for Musk’s sudden increase in fortune came after he confirmed that Tesla plans to start production of new models in “early 2025, if not late this year,” after previously expecting to begin in the second half of 2025.
In addition, Musk also touted Tesla’s investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, and said the company is in talks with “one major automaker” to license its driver assistance system, which is marketed in the US as the full self-driving, or FSD, option.
In its shareholder deck, Tesla showed off screens of a robotaxi-based ride-hailing service.
The company has been promising a self-driving vehicle for years without delivering on Musk’s promise.
Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla.
Bernard Arnault remains the richest person in the world
Meanwhile, France’s founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, leads the way in terms of richest in the world with $209.7 billion.
Musk is second with $204.1 billion, with American Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rounding out the top three with $197.8 billion.
LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, commonly known as LVMH, is a French multinational holding and conglomerate specialising in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris.
Musk was once comfortably the world’s richest person, but his $44 billion purchase of social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) saw him drop down the rankings.
Musk is the fourth-youngest member of the top 10 club, behind Mark Zuckerberg (39), Sergey Brin (50) and Larry Page (51).
Following Bezos in the top 10, in order, are Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Page, Brin, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
Apart from Arnault, the rest of the top 10 are all American citizens.
The figures are updated in real time.
Top 10 richest people in the world
Correct as of 29 April 2024 at 18:00 SA time
Meanwhile, another French national, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, tops the list of “richest woman in the world”.
She is the 16th-richest person in the world.
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, 70, is the granddaughter of the founder of personal care company L’Oreal.
Bettencourt Meyers and her family own more than a third of publicly traded L’Oreal.
She has served on L’Oreal’s board since 1997 and is the chairwoman of the family holding company.
She became France’s reigning L’Oreal heiress in 2017 when her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, then the world’s richest woman, died at age 94.
Top 10 richest women in the world:
For interest’s sake, Warren Buffett, at 93 years of age, is the oldest member of the overall top 10 list.
By contrast, the oldest person on the woman’s top 10 list is 84-year-old Jacqueline Mars.
The average age of those in the top 10 richest overall is 63.5, while the average age on the top 10 women’s list is considerably higher at 72.5.
As reported by The South African website, Clemente Del Vecchio is the richest teenager in the world.