Elon Musk has become the first person to cross the $300billion net worth threshold - after his fortune surged by $10billion in a day thanks to a Tesla share spike, on the same day Microsoft regained the title of world's most valuable company.
Musk's net worth hit $302billion as of Thursday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires' Index.
The increase of $10billion was due to a rise in Tesla shares on Thursday, after the electric car firm inked a huge deal with Hertz for the rental giant to buy 100,000 of its vehicles.
The mogul is now worth over $100billion more than the second-richest person on earth, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. His fortune sits at $199billion.
Also on Friday, Microsoft regained its perch as the world's most valuable company.
This came after Apple fell just under four percent after lower than expected fourth-quarter revenues. Microsoft climbed 1.1 percent to blow past Apple after higher than expected revenue estimates for an 11th straight quarter.
Elon Musk has become the first person to cross the $300billion net worth threshold
Musk is now worth over $100billion more than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Microsoft is now more valuable than Apple for the first time since early 2020. The company is on pace for its biggest weekly gains since January.
Musk is now worth more than the annual GDP of nations like Egypt, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Greece, Qatar and Finland.
He's also worth more than the market value of PayPal, the company he co-founded, as well as streaming giant Netflix.
Musk's worth even exceeds the combined Forbes valuation of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, New York Knicks, as well as top-level soccer teams Barcelona and Real Madrid ($25.4billion).
Experts recently predicted Musk would be the world's first trillionaire, but said the fortune would come from his SpaceX venture, rather than Tesla.
Musk has slammed President Joe Biden's plan to tax billionaires' income to pay for his proposed spending bill as the Tesla CEO saw his company's value top $1trillion and his personal wealth increase by a single-day record of $36billion.
Musk took to Twitter on Monday and responded to a tweet that was critical of the Democrats' idea for a new billionaires' tax to help pay for Biden's social services and climate change plan.
The world's richest man predicted that the Democrats' plan to tax the wealthy will eventually expand to include new levies on middle class Americans.
'Eventually, they run out of other people's money and then they come for you,' Musk tweeted.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Musk and his rival, Jeff Bezos, have in recent years paid nothing in federal income tax.
However, the tax is not being included in Biden's framework for the domestic policy package released Thursday.
Under the plan, Tesla Stock and other tradable assets would be valued annually. If those assets rise in value, Musk would pay a tax on that gain, even if they haven't sold the asset.
Under current laws, a gain is only taxed if it is 'realized' when its owner sells the asset and makes a profit.
However, the future of the billionaires tax is uncertain, given that it wasn't included in President Joe Biden's framework for the domestic policy package released Thursday. Even so, that deal among Congressional Democrats isn't final.
Not surprisingly, Musk and other billionaires are voicing their displeasure with the proposed tax.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Musk and his rival, Jeff Bezos, have in recent years paid nothing in federal income tax.
Musk's wealth grew an estimated $13.9billion between 2014 and 2018.
He reported $1.52billion in total income and paid $455million in taxes. It equates to a 3.27 percent true tax rate.
In 2018, Musk paid no federal income tax. The records show he paid $68,000 in 2015 and $65,000 in 2017.
Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, led by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, are prepared to roll out the tax revenue plan in a matter of days.
Under Wyden's emerging plan, the billionaires' tax would hit the wealthiest of Americans, fewer than 1,000 people.
Elon Musk (left) has slammed President Joe Biden’s (right) plan to tax billionaires’ income to pay for his proposed spending bill
The world’s richest man predicted that the Democrats’ plan to tax the wealthy will eventually expand to include new levies on middle class Americans. ‘Eventually, they run out of other people’s money and then they come for you,’ Musk tweeted
Musk was replying to a post by Rick McCracken, who warned against the capital gains tax proposal
Musk on Monday saw his personal net worth grow by more than $36billion after shares of his company, Tesla, soared by nearly 13 percent
It would require those with assets of more than $1billion, or three-years consecutive income of $100million, to pay taxes on the gains of stocks and other tradeable assets, rather than waiting until holdings are sold.
As it stands, billionaires use much of their money to buy assets like stocks, which are currently only taxed when they are sold.
The new plan would levy annual taxes on those assets for the ultra-rich while they're still in the hands of their owners.
Wealthy people often use these currently-untaxed assets as collateral to obtain loans - a maneuver that allows them to pay lower taxes.
A similar billionaire's tax would be applied to non-tradeable assets, including real estate, but it would be deferred with the tax not assessed until the asset was sold.
Overall, the billionaires' tax rate has not been set, but it is expected to be at least the 20 percent capital gains rate.
Democrats have said it could raise $200billion in revenue that could help fund Biden's package over 10 years.
Rick McCracken posted a tweet in which he warned against Wyden’s capital gains tax proposal.
He posted a template of a letter which concerned citizens can use to send to their representatives in Congress to express opposition to the proposal.
‘I expect you to oppose the Wyden proposal to tax unrealized capital gains,’ the letter read.
The deal is said to be worth $4.2 billion as each vehicle is worth about $40,000 each
‘Although the proposal targets billionaires and not myself, the government of elected representatives have a track record of scope creep when writing new taxes.’
