Tesla CEO and cryptocurrency enthusiast Elon Musk is officially the richest man in the world, with a net worth of US$311 billion (~RM1.29 trillion). Musk passed the US$300 billion mark on Thursday, and added almost another US$10 billion (~RM41 billion) to his value just yesterday, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. To put that into perspective, Malaysia’s GDP in 2020 was RM1.4 trillion, just a bit more than the CEO.
The increase in the TechnoKing’s net worth is thanks to a surge in Tesla stock prices, which has hit an all-time high. Earlier this week, the electric vehicle company became the 7th public company in the world to achieve a market cap of over US$1 trillion (~RM4.14 trillion) after rental group Hertz ordered 100000 cars, surpassing Facebook’s value.
Coincidentally, Musk’s burgeoning wealth comes as US lawmakers are considering a new billionaire tax, which would tax gains on tradable assets, such as stock, even if the asset hasn’t been sold. If put into place, the law would see Elon Musk having to pay an estimated US$50 billion in tax in its first five years. Of course, the CEO disagrees with the proposal and said that he plans to use the money to put humans on Mars.
US national debt is ~$28,900 billion or ~$229k per taxpayer.
Even taxing all “billionaires” at 100% would only make a small dent in that number, so obviously the rest must come from the general public. This is basic math.
Spending is the real problem.https://t.co/1EwWyqdVsT
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2021
Tesla recently filed its 2021 third quarter earnings, which saw a profit of US$1.62 billion (~RM6.7 billion). The record-breaking quarterly profit came despite a global chip shortage and supply chain constraints. While the company initially made net losses in most quarters, Tesla posted its first full-year of profit in 2020 and has successfully made a profit for nine quarters in a row.
(Sources: CBS, Financial Times)
