Elon Musk overtakes Jeff Bezos to reclaim the title of the world’s richest person; the third person ever to amass a fortune worth $200 billion

On January 7, Elon Musk became the world’s richest person with a net worth of more than $185 billion, surpassing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But it didn’t take long Bezos reclaimed his title as the world’s richest person after he leapfrogged Musk. Just a little over a month later, Musk saw his net worth slide by $3.9 billion on February 16 as Tesla shares closed at $796.22, down more than 2.4%.

Fast forward seven months later, Musk overtakes Jeff Bezos for the second time to reclaim the title of the world’s richest person, also making Musk the third person ever to amass a fortune worth $200 billion, according to Forbes. Musk’s personal wealth, which is mostly in Tesla stock, has skyrocketed in recent years along with the company’s share price.

To celebrate his new title, Musk took a crack at Bezos saying “I’m sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal,” Musk told Forbes in a short email.

Musk’s ascension to the billionaire top spot is especially remarkable considering that just 18 months ago, Musk was only worth $24.6 billion in March 2020, nearly $90 billion less than Bezos at the time. At the close of 2020, Musk added a whopping $140 billion to his net worth, bringing the total to $167 billion. But Amazon’s share price has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.

In 2020 alone, Tesla’s stock rose by 720 percent, making Tesla the most valuable car company in the world. Tesla’s market capitalization increased by more than $500 billion in 2020 and is now worth more than the 9 largest automakers combined, including Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, GM, Ford, Honda, Fiat Chrysler, and Peugeot.

Meanwhile, Musk and Bezos are not the only tech billionaires on the Forbes 2021 list of the top 400 billionaires. Bill Gates comes in the fourth position at $128.8 billion while Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg claimed the fifth and the sixth spots at #117.5 billion and $116.8 billion respectively.