Elon Musk has been under pressure to demonstrate new Tesla products to wow consumers
AFP

Elon Musk's net worth surged by $33.5 billion on Thursday after Tesla Inc. shares recorded their biggest one-day jump in over a decade, solidifying his top spot among the world's wealthiest people.

Due to its biggest quarterly increase since 2023, Tesla's stock price jumped 22% on Thursday and turned positive for the year.

Investors welcomed Tesla's better-than-expected gross margins, 2025 ambitions for inexpensive vehicles and the automaker's 30% delivery growth prediction, which led its market value to leap to $150 billion, Bloomberg reported.

As a result of this turnaround, Musk's total wealth has reportedly risen to $270.3 billion, with Tesla contributing a remarkable 75% of this increase.

According to Bloomberg's figures, he now worth $61 billion more than Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.

Along with sizeable shares in SpaceX, social media company X, and the artificial intelligence startup xAI, Elon Musk's wealth is largely driven by his 13% investment in Tesla, which is worth over $200 billion. Furthermore, Musk's net worth can rise much more while a shareholder lawsuit concerning his 2018 salary package is still underway.

With the increase, Tesla's earnings per share hit 72 cents, significantly above expert projections of 58%. This was made possible by $326 million from its Full Self-Driving Supervised system and $739 million in environmental regulatory credits. Earlier, Tesla's stock was on track to have its worst month since January, but a robust earnings release reversed losses and increased its 2024 gain to 5%, surpassing the Nasdaq's 23% increase.

At the results call, Elon Musk announced that a ride-hailing service would be introduced in Texas and California as early as next year -- an announcement he made following the Cybercab concept's demonstration at Tesla's robotaxi event. Musk aims to revolutionize self-driving cars, focusing on introducing cutting-edge technology in key regions and expanding mobility services.

Tesla continues to impress with strong quarterly earnings, boasting a 12% stock surge and a 17% jump in Q3 profits to $2.2 billion. Musk's optimism for the company's future is fueled by increased auto sales and lower expenses. Looking ahead, he has unveiled ambitious plans for expansion into energy, transport, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI).