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Tesla reported that it had delivered nearly 185,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2021, a new … [+]
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Shares of Tesla rose nearly 5% as of 1:30 p.m. EST, pushing Musk’s net worth up by $5.6 billion, to $169.5 billion, according to Forbes’ estimates. He remains the second-richest person on the planet, behind only Amazon
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Tesla’s stock started off Monday with a bang—rising as much as 7% before paring back gains somewhat—as investors cheered the company’s record-beating quarter. The electric-vehicle maker announced late last Friday that it had delivered 184,800 cars in the first quarter of 2021, topping analyst expectations of 172,000 deliveries. That number is also up from the 180,570 deliveries the company said it had made during the fourth quarter of last year.
While the increase from last quarter is modest (just 2.2%), the nearly 185,000 cars delivered to customers worldwide between January and March is more than double what it was a year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic briefly halted production at Tesla plants in California and Shanghai.
The bulk of Musk’s fortune comes from his 21% stake in Tesla. He holds around 147 million shares and has more than 56 million in vested stock options. As Tesla hit various milestones over the course of 2020, Musk received several tranches of options worth billions of dollars each, according to regulatory filings.
Musk’s fortune has grown an unprecedented amount over the past twelve months: Just over a year ago, in March 2020, he was worth $24.6 billion.
In early January 2021, as his net worth continued to soar, Musk briefly overtook Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person. Musk’s net worth peaked at around $190 billion, however, and Bezos has since regained the title of world’s richest.