Elon Musk is close to breaking his $340 billion wealth record as Tesla stock keeps rising

• Elon Musk is close to setting a new wealth record following a Tesla stock surge since the election.
• The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has grown $105 billion richer this year, fueled by Tesla's 41% jump.
• Musk's net worth hit roughly $342 billion in Tuesday's premarket, exceeding his 2021 peak.

Elon Musk is close to breaking his wealth record following Tesla's postelection rally.

The world's richest person gained almost $21 billion on Monday as Tesla stock jumped 9%, boosting his net worth to $335 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Tesla shares rose as much as 2.6% in premarket trading on Tuesday before reversing direction and dropping 4%.

Their initial gain briefly lifted Musk's wealth on paper to about $342 billion, per Business Insider estimates, surpassing his record high of $340.4 billion in 2021.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO's net worth has soared by an unmatched $105 billion this year, putting him more than $100 billion ahead of the runner-up on the rich list, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who is worth $228 billion.

Tesla stock has surged since Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election to close on Monday at $350, as investors wagered the electric-vehicle maker would benefit from Musk's close ties to the president-elect.

Mark Malek, the chief investment officer at Siebert, recently told BI that "some sort of premium has been placed on the stock as a result of Musk's very public involvement in Trump's campaign."

The tech billionaire championed Trump on X, and his super PAC spent an estimated $200 million to get the former president back into office, The Associated Press reported.

Trump has suggested Musk could run a government efficiency commission aimed at cutting costs and bureaucracy in the federal government.

Tesla stock was up 41% for the year at Monday's close, leaving it some way off its record close of $410 on November 4, 2021. The automaker's market capitalization has ballooned to more than $1.1 trillion, making it more valuable than Warren Buffett's $1 trillion conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway.

Musk's roughly 13% stake in the company has jumped in value as a result. At $335 billion, his personal fortune isn't far off Netflix's $344 billion market value — and comfortably exceeds Salesforce's $327 billion.

Read the original article on Business Insider