Elon Musk Is Richest Person In The World Again After Tesla Stock Price Surge

Elon Musk is once again the richest person in the world after Tesla's stock price surged by nearly 70%.

The Tesla CEO lost the top spot to Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH, for two months starting in December.

According to a Bloomberg report Tuesday, Musk's net worth reached $187.1 billion after Tesla shares rose 5.5% to $207.63 at 4 p.m. in New York. The recent figure reportedly exceeded LVMH's Arnault's $185.3 billion personal net worth.

The report came as investors turned their attention again to riskier growth stocks amid signs of economic strength and a slower pace of Federal Reserve interest-rate increases.

Musk entered 2023 with a $137 billion net worth – far from his $340 billion worth in Nov. 2021 – after his controversial Twitter acquisition and a broader market downturn in tech, according to a CNN report.

However, the company has seen an uptick in demand for its electric vehicles after it cut prices on several models. Tesla Inc.'s stock prices surged by nearly 70%, up about 100% from its intraday low last Jan. 6, per Bloomberg.

Donations Musk made to unnamed charities last year also did not make a dent in his net worth, the outlet said. Earlier reports said that Musk donated $1.9 billion worth of Tesla stock – about 0.01% of his total net worth – to charity last year.

The Tesla chief executive also reportedly sold at least $22 billion worth of shares in 2022, per Forbes. Musk's donation of Tesla shares to charity reportedly reduced the taxes he owed on profits from selling said shares.

Meanwhile, Forbes still has Musk ranked No. 2 on its real-time billionaires' list, behind Arnault and his family. Arnault's listed worth is $206.3, while Musk is at an estimated $197.7 billion.

Some Tesla investors have slammed Musk after buying the social media platform Twitter for $44 billion last year. With this, Musk has hinted at handing over the chief executive position at Twitter by the end of 2023.

"I'm guessing probably towards the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company because I think it should be in a stable position around, you know, at the end of this year," he said, as quoted by the BBC.

"I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it's in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is clearly laid out," he added.

However, Musk has reportedly approached AI researchers recently for another venture – a new research lab to develop an alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT, per Reuters.