Elon Musk’s Net Worth Increased By $200 Billion During COVID-19 Pandemic

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk speaks next to the company's newest Model S during the Model S Beta Event held at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California October 1, 2011.

Some of America’s billionaires got richer during the pandemic, but no one matched or surpassed the wealth gain of Elon Musk, chief executive of both Tesla and rocket company SpaceX.

According to reports, Musk started 2020 with a net worth of $26.6 billion.

No worth an estimated $225.1 billion, Musk is $198.5 billion wealthier today than he was before the pandemic began.

As of February 2022, he remains the wealthiest in the world, according to Forbes. He is $39.5 billion richer than LVMH founder Bernard Arnault, and his family, who placed second on the richest list, with a net worth of $185.6 billion.

Throughout 2020, Musk reportedly gained more than $110 billion, setting the record for the biggest one-year gain of any billionaire Forbes has ever tracked.

At the beginning of 2021, Musk dethroned Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was the world's richest since 2017. At the time, Musk had an estimated net worth of about $188.5 billion — $1.5 billion more than Bezos.

Musk reportedly gained over $90 billion last year. In November, the Tesla CEO became the first person with more than $300 billion to his name.

Musk could get a lot richer this year, with CNN reporting that if analysts were correct, “Tesla will report strong financial results this year that will net Musk billions of dollars in stock awards.”

In April 2012, Musk signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of his fortune to address some of society’s most pressing problems.

Musk recently made headlines after a regulatory filing revealed that he donated about $5.7 million of Tesla shares to an unidentified charity in November.

The charitable gesture would make Musk the second-biggest U.S. donor in 2021. He was trailing behind Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, who gave $15 billion last year.