His personal fortune has shot up by more than $15 Billion after an eventful week for tech billionaire CEO Elon Musk.
It was announced on Monday that his electric car company, Tesla, was accepted into the S& P 500, a major stock market index in the United States. This comes after four astronauts were sent into space by his rocket company, SpaceX. Elon Musk is poised to become the third richest person in the world, in addition to testing positive for Covid-19.
After the news that it was being added to the index, Tesla’s share price rose about 14 percent in New York. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, given Elon Musk’s 20% in Tesla, his net worth rose to $117.5 billion. This year, his fortune soared by $90 billion as Tesla’s share price continued to grow.
Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend that he had a mild case of Covid-19 “most likely” had a moderate case of Covid-19 and has had symptoms of “a minor cold.” The day before four astronauts were launched at the International Space Station, this came with a rocket developed by SpaceX’s Elon Musk.
Biggest new entrant onto the US index
Following months of uncertainty and one disappointment in September when it failed to make the index, Tesla would join the S&P 500 on 21 December. The California-based automotive maker, with a stock market cap of over $400bn, will be the largest new entrant to the US index.
Its inclusion comes after four consecutive quarters of earnings have been reported by the firm, necessary for acceptance on the index. For most of its history, Tesla has reported losses. Investment funds that follow the index would automatically invest in Tesla by being merged into the S&P 500.
“(Tesla) will be one of the biggest weight adds in the last decade to the S&P 500, and will also produce one of the largest financing trades in the history of the S&P 500,” said an S&P Dow Jones Indices spokesperson. Despite manufacturing a fraction of the cars manufactured by its larger competitors, Toyota, VW, and General Motor, the California carmaker has become the most valuable car manufacturer in the world.
