Elon Musk, the world's richest person, added $32.6 billion to his net worth at the start of 2022, bringing his total fortune to $304.2 billion, according to Forbes. The Tesla CEO briefly surpassed the $300 billion mark in November 2021, becoming the first person ever to do so.
Musk's wealth surge was driven by a 13% rise in Tesla's share price after the company announced it delivered over 936,000 vehicles in 2021, exceeding analyst expectations. The electric car maker's market capitalisation again topped $1 trillion.
Forbes ranks Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, second with a net worth $103.6 billion behind Musk, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sits in third place. Musk owns about 15.6% of Tesla's stock and sold 15.7 million shares in 2021, worth over $16 billion before tax, partly to cover tax bills on stock options.
Musk claimed on Twitter that he would pay approximately $11 billion in taxes for 2021, which would place him among the largest individual taxpayers in US history, though this represents only about 0.0036% of his net worth. His fortune increased by $116 billion in 2021 alone, the biggest one-year gain ever recorded by Forbes.
The billionaire is expected to receive another windfall later in January when Tesla reports its fourth-quarter earnings, provided the company meets operational and valuation targets.
