It’s just one more arresting data point amid a flurry of superlatives, but Elon Musk’s soaring net worth now makes him more valuable than Exxon Mobil Corp.
The wealth of the world’s richest person jumped to $288.6 billion Monday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The $36.2 billion gain followed a surge in Tesla Inc.’s stock price after Hertz Global Holdings Inc. ordered 100,000 cars.
Eclipsing the value of an old-economy bellwether like Exxon may seem like an inevitable milestone in Musk’s trajectory. But the oil company’s own share price has been no laggard this year. Despite being overtaken by Musk at the start of 2021, Exxon has been on a tear since then. It outpaced the Tesla chief executive this year as oil and natural gas prices advanced. Still, that fossil-fuel rally, should it continue, may help spur even more sales of electric vehicles.
Elite Status
Tesla Inc. joined an elite group of companies with market values of at least $1 trillion on Monday, a key milestone for the Elon Musk-led carmaker whose shares have been on a tear amid a global shift to electric vehicles.
The maker of the Model 3 sedan — the top-selling electric car worldwide — is now the second fastest company ever to reach this mark, taking just over 11 years since its public debut in June 2010. Facebook Inc. did it faster, although its market capitalization is now below $1 trillion as the stock has sold off over the past two months. The other U.S.-listed members of the trillion-dollar club include Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
The stock jumped as much as 9.8% on Monday, the biggest intraday move since March 9. It touched a record high of $998.74, which took its market capitalization above $1 trillion, based on about a billion shares outstanding as of Oct. 21.
