Featured Image Credit: Antonio Masiello / Contributor/ Michael M. Santiago / Staff/ Getty Images
Elon Musk secured the top spot on the 2023 billionaires list, making him the world's richest man.
And he's finishing the year $100 billion richer than he did back in 2022.
Back in 2019, the Tesla CEO reportedly earned around 40,000 times the average annual income of a regular worker.
Four years later, Musk's current net worth stands at an impressive $232 billion.
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Musk stands amongst other tech billionaires who have seen their wealth in tech stocks grow by 48% - totalling $658 billion - due to the intensive rise of AI.
So, where did the extra $100 billion to Musk come from?
The majority of the Tesla CEO's profits came from the thriving success of his innovative tech companies, including Tesla and SpaceX.
After the close of last Thursday's trading, Musk added $95.4 billion to his wealth. This positive turn followed a setback in 2022 when his companies experienced losses amounting to $138 billion, according to Bloomberg.
In addition, Musk's 13% stake in Tesla, valued at $107 billion in July 2023, played a large role in contributing to his financial standing.
In 2022, Musk faced a legal battle with Twitter involving its acquisition. He reportedly sold nearly 8 million Tesla shares - which is around $7 billion - in response to the social media platform suing him in response to agreement terms.
As a result, the SpaceX CEO dipped in the billionaire rankings, coming out second in 2022, trailing behind French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault.
Back in July 2023, Musk largely rebranded Twitter as X, purchasing the domain X.com back from PayPal at an undisclosed amount, causing a financial dip. Although, some reports suggested that the total value was not short of $1 million.
However, this dip did not affect Musk's spot in the billionaire rankings two years in a row.
Musk overtook Arnault in June 2023 by more than $50 billion as the demand for luxury goods decreased the shares of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.
Arnault managed to hold the top spot for the world's richest person for the first half of 2023 before he was dethroned by Musk.
Amid the increasing concerns about Tesla Cybertrucks, including crashes and safety issues making headlines, Musk still celebrates this year as the wealthiest man on Earth.
This year also saw Amazon founder Jeff Bezos seeing a whopping addition of $70 billion to his wallet this year, putting him in a close second place alongside Arnault. Meanwhile, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune grew by more than $80 billion.
