Elon Musk made more money than Bill Gates’ total net worth in just 11 months

South African-born billionaire, Elon Musk remains the only person with a net worth greater than $300 billion due to the appreciation of his Tesla stock. As at 2021, his year-to-date gains of $141 billion is greater than Bill Gates’ ($135 billion) net worth.

The current value of Musk’s net worth is $311 billion. This is equivalent to 174 million troy ounces of gold or 4.4 billion barrels of crude oil.

Tesla shares started the week all fired up after CEO, Musk sent a memo to employees encouraging them to minimize costs rather than rushing orders out last minute to meet the company’s quarter-end sales targets. Musk wrote in a memo distributed Friday that he does not want the company to spend a lot on “expedited fees, overtime, and temporary contractors just so cars can arrive by the end of Q4.”

Musk explained that, historically, deliveries have dropped “massively” in the first few weeks of the following quarter when sprinting like crazy at the end of quarters to maximize them.

“Over a six-month period, we won’t deliver any more cars, but we will have spent a lot of money and burned out in an attempt to accelerate deliveries,” he said.

Monday afternoon, Musk wrote that the end-of-quarter deliveries will still be very intense but a little less intense than they have been in the past.

What to know about Musk

He was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, where he attended a short period of university. Having been born into a wealthy family, he showed a knack for technology and entrepreneurship from an early age.

When he was 12 years old, he wrote and sold the code for a video game. However, his dreams were in America.

At 17, he was able to establish himself in Canada since his mother was born there. In 2002, he became a US citizen knowing that it would be easier to enter the United States from Canada.

Having studied at Queens College in Ontario for two years, he moved to the United States and earned degrees in Economics and Physics from the University of Pennsylvania.

He went to Stanford University in 1995 to pursue a Ph.D. in energy physics, but he dropped out after two days.

Musk saw the Internet as a greater opportunity than physics in the heyday of the internet boom. That same year, he founded his first company.

Musk became the world’s richest person when he crossed the $200 billion mark in 2020. He went on to become the first person ever to have a net worth of over $300 billion just a few months later in November 2021. A brief drop below $300 billion was followed by a return to the $300 billion thresholds by the end of last month.

The majority of his wealth comes from Tesla, which accounts for around three quarters of his wealth. His stock options at former and current companies also have increased. In lieu of a salary, Musk receives stock options as against cash.