Closing the gap! Elon Musk ‘s wealth grows $8bn in a day, makes him fourth richest man in world

Elon Musk is now within touching distance of Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, in terms of wealth. The outspoken entrepreneur is now the world’s fourth-richest person after Tesla Inc. shares surged 11% on Monday, closing at a record high and boosting Musk’s net worth by $7.8 billion. The rise vaulted the Tesla co-founder past French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, the wealthiest non-American on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.  

After the latest rise in fortune, Musk’s total’s fortune stands at $84.8 billion. This puts him within $15 billion of Mark Zuckerberg, number three on the ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. 

The recent jump comes as the latest triumph for the billionaire who only two years ago was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and had to resign as chairman of the electric car maker over rogue tweets. Tesla shares are up 339% this year, fueled by growing anticipation that the company will be included in the S&P 500 Index. 

Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is poised to potentially pad his fortune further. The company is close to finalizing $2 billion in new funding that would increase its equity valuation to $46 billion, Bloomberg reported last week. 

While 2020 has been a tough year for most people, Musk has made the most of last few months. His fortune grew by $57.2 billion this year, the second-biggest increase on the index. Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos is this year’s biggest gainer, up $73 billion. 

Despite all this glory, Musk is never too far away from controversies. His Wikipedia page has been locked for editing after Tesla CEO encouraged people to "trash" him on the site. "History is written by the victors? except on Wikipedia," Musk tweeted on Sunday.  

In a follow-up tweet, he told his followers to "trash" him on the site, which typically allows anyone to edit its pages.  

"Please trash me on Wikipedia, I`m begging you," Musk said.