New Texan Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, passing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos – Houston Chronicle

Elon Musk is now the world's richest person, according to Bloomberg.

Musk, the entrepreneur behind electric auto manufacturer Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index Thursday morning following a rise in Tesla's share price.

Musk's net worth Thursday afternoon was $194.8 billion, or $9.5 billion more than Bezos who had held the top spot since October 2017, Bloomberg said.

And with Musk recently confirming his move to Texas, that means the world's richest man now lives in the Lone Star State.

More on his relocation: Elon Musk confirms that he has moved to Texas

Musk suggested he moved to Texas (the exact location is unknown, but he's rumored to be looking in the Westlake area near Lake Austin) to be closer to two big projects: a Tesla Gigafactory outside of Austin to assemble electric-powered vehicles and a SpaceX facility near Brownsville that is developing and testing prototypes of the Starship spacecraft to carry people to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Tesla is building its largest "Gigafactory 15 minutes east of downtown Austin to assemble electric-powered Cybertruck pickups and Model Y SUVs. The more than 4-million-square-foot plant is seen as a sign of the accelerating energy transition that will have profound implications for Houston and Texas oil-dependent economy.

SpaceX tests every one of its rocket engines from McGregor. And in Boca Chica, a community outside of Brownsville, the company is testing prototypes of its Starship spacecraft. This vehicle is designed to launch atop the SpaceX Super Heavy rocket and carry people to the moon, Mars and beyond.

The company recently launched its SN8 prototype to roughly 40,000 feet, where it flipped itself around in midair and then landed vertically but hard, and in a ball of flames.

Musk had considered that flight a success -- Mars, here we come!! he said on Twitter -- and the company could soon launch its SN9 prototype.

Bloomberg said that Musk added more than $165 billion to his fortune over the past year, which is "probably the fastest bout of wealth creation in history."

His rise in net worth was fueled by Tesla's share price, which surged 743 percent last year due to consistent profits, the company's inclusion in the S&P 500 Index and overall enthusiasm from Wall Street and retail investors, Bloomberg said.

Bezos, who also founded a space company, Blue Origin, would still be the world's richest person if he had not gone through a divorce, where his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott received about a quarter of the family Amazon stake, and his philanthropy. Bezos donated shares worth about $680 million in November, according to Bloomberg.

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New Texan Elon Musk is now the richest person in the world, passing Amazon's Jeff Bezos - Houston Chronicle