Elon Musk becomes richest person in the world, leaves behind Amazon's Bezos

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has become the richest man in the world. He has overtaken Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Elon Musk has a net worth of more than 188 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a net worth of 187 billion. Musk's fortune has risen as due to unprecedented rally in Tesla's share price. Elon Musk, owner of the electric car maker Tesla, is now the richest man in the world. Musk has overtaken Amazon founder Jeff Bezos topped the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, a ranking of the world's 500 wealthiest people.

The South Africa-born engineer's net worth was $188.5 billion at 10:15 a.m. in New York, $1.5 billion more than Bezos, who has held the top spot since October 2017.

Since 2017, Jeff Bezos has been the richest man in the world. Elon Musk has reacted in his style via Twitter after becoming the richest man in the world. "What a strange thing," Musk said in a reply to a Twitter user.

How strange

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 7, 2021

Looking back over the last 12 months, this period has been special for Elon Musk. Over the past year his net worth soared by more than $150 billion in possibly the fastest bout of wealth creation in history. Unexpected gains in Tesla's stock are the main reason behind the rapid rise in his wealth.