Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, has seen a significant increase in his net worth, as his fortune soared by $10.6 billion to $145.2 billion since he testified in court on Friday. According to Bloomberg Billionaire's Index, this marks the largest two-day gain since November.
The surge in Musk's wealth comes after he was sued by Tesla shareholders for a tweet he posted in 2018, where he claimed to have "funding secured" to take the company private at $420 per share. However, the deal never happened and investors are now suing Musk for billions of dollars in damages.
In court, Musk defended his tweet, stating that it was not a joke and that he believed he had secured funding from Saudi Arabia's Investment Fund. He also claimed that a major Saudi Arabian investor backed out of the deal and blamed them for "backpedaling" and "ass-covering".
Musk also testified that he planned on selling SpaceX stock to take Tesla private when he posted the tweet. "SpaceX stock alone meant 'funding secured' by itself," he said.
This recent increase in wealth almost makes up for Musk's loss of $13 billion in 2023. In 2022, he became the first and only person in history to lose $200 billion from their net worth. Much of Musk's wealth is tied up in shares of Tesla, which had a difficult year in 2022, falling almost 70% as investors questioned Musk's commitment to the company following his $44 billion Twitter takeover. His net worth has now fallen about $195 billion from its peak, according to Bloomberg.
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