Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
- Elon Musk is close to setting a new wealth record following a Tesla stock surge since the election.
- The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has grown $105 billion richer this year, fueled by Tesla's 41% jump.
- Musk's net worth briefly exceeded his 2021 peak as Tesla rose in premarket trading before falling back.
Elon Musk is close to breaking his wealth record following Tesla's postelection rally.
The world's richest person gained almost $21 billion on Monday as Tesla stock jumped 9%, boosting his net worth to $335 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Tesla shares rose as much as 2.6% in premarket trading on Tuesday before reversing direction and dropping 4%.
Their initial gain briefly lifted Musk's wealth on paper to about $342 billion, per Business Insider estimates, surpassing his record high of $340.4 billion in 2021.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO's net worth has soared by an unmatched $105 billion this year, putting him more than $100 billion ahead of the runner-up on the rich list, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is worth $228 billion.
Tesla stock has surged since Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election to close on Monday at $350, as investors wagered the electric-vehicle maker would benefit from Musk's close ties to the president-elect.
Mark Malek, the chief investment officer at Siebert, recently told BI that "some sort of premium has been placed on the stock as a result of Musk's very public involvement in Trump's campaign."
The tech billionaire championed Trump on X, and his super PAC spent an estimated $200 million to get the former president back into office, The Associated Press reported.
Trump has suggested Musk could run a government efficiency commission aimed at cutting costs and bureaucracy in the federal government.
Tesla stock was up 41% for the year at Monday's close, leaving it some way off its record close of $410 on November 4, 2021. The automaker's market capitalization has ballooned to more than $1.1 trillion, making it more valuable than Warren Buffett's $1 trillion conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway.
Musk's roughly 13% stake in the company has jumped in value as a result. At $335 billion, his personal fortune isn't far off Netflix's $344 billion market value — and comfortably exceeds Salesforce's $327 billion.