Following a sharp surge in Tesla’s share price, Elon Musk, a South African-born American entrepreneur, overtook Microsoft founder Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
"The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth rose by $7.2bn (£5.4bn) to $127.9bn as the maverick chief executive of the electric car company is now ranked immediately behind the Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos," read the publication.
Besides Musk's electric car company, the young entrepreneur also exhibits his interests in spacecraft as his company SpaceX sent four astronauts to the International Space Station last week.
SpaceX is about to launch 60 broadband internet satellites into orbit, after suffering delays due to poor weather conditions, the report highlighted.
Just about a week ago, Musk overtook Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and grabbed a spot on among the wealthiest of the world.
"The 36-year-old Facebook founder has fallen back into the fourth spot this week, behind the French businessman Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company," said the British publication.
