Elon Musk, the SpaceX man rocketed past Buffett after his Tesla stock surged 10.8% over the weekend.
Each stock is now valued at a record $1,544 and a market value of $286.5 billion.
Esquire reports that Musk owns 20.8% of Tesla stock.
Thus the rise in share price meant that Musk’s personal fortune rose more than $6 billion, making his total stake worth just under $60 billion.
Musk is also the primary shareholder of privately held SpaceX, as well as a privately held tunnelling company.
Tesla’s stock is up more than 500% over the past 12 months, making the electric car maker is the most valuable auto company on the planet.
By comparison, Buffett’s fortune dropped this week after he donated nearly $3 billion worth of his personal stock options to charity.
This was done as part of his plan to give away most of his wealth to philanthropic ventures.
Bloomberg billionaire index has now placed Musk as 7th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $70.5 Billion.
Buffett is ranked 10th with $69.2B.
Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man valued at $189 billion, followed by Bill Gates with $116 billion.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is third with $93.0 billion, Bernard Arnault fourth with $92.6B.
Steve Ballmer, $92.6B and Larry Page $72.7B are ranked ahead of Elon Musk.
AFP