Elon Musk Earned 14 Trillion Won in One Day... Rises to World's 3rd Richest Person (Comprehensive)

Elon Musk's Wealth Estimated at About 137 Trillion Won... Surpasses Mark Zuckerberg
Tesla Stock Price Rises 12.6% After Stock Split... Up 500% This Year Alone

Elon Musk Tesla CEO
Photo by AP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who is expanding his business areas infinitely from electric vehicles to space and bio, saw his wealth increase by as much as 14 trillion won in a single day. This was the result of Tesla's stock price soaring after trading began following a stock split. CEO Musk surpassed Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, to become the world's third richest person.

According to the billionaire index compiled by Bloomberg on the 31st of last month (local time), Musk's wealth was estimated at $115.4 billion (approximately 137 trillion won) on that day. Compared to the beginning of the year, it increased by $87.8 billion (318.7%), with $11.7 billion (11.3%) earned in just one day.

The sharp increase in wealth is largely due to the rise in Tesla's stock price. Since about 74% of Musk's wealth is in Tesla shares, when the stock price rises, his wealth rises accordingly. Tesla's stock price rose 81% after announcing a 5-for-1 stock split on the 11th of last month, and it has increased nearly 500% since the beginning of the year. In particular, on the day the split shares began trading, Tesla's stock closed at $498.32 per share, up 12.6%. Tesla's market capitalization was $464.3 billion as of that day, already surpassing Walmart ($393.2 billion), the world's largest retailer.

One reason cited is that the stock split lowered the investment threshold. Bloomberg explained that during the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a boom in individual investors using the free securities trading app Robinhood has made Tesla very popular among investors. Tesla has attracted attention not only in the U.S. but also in Korea, where Korean investors now hold shares equivalent to 1% of Tesla's stock.

Musk became the world's third richest person after Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (MS). Zuckerberg, who had held third place recently thanks to Facebook's stock price rise, was pushed down to fourth by Musk. Only these four individuals have wealth exceeding $100 billion (approximately 118 trillion won) worldwide.

Apple, which also began trading after a stock split on the same day as Tesla, closed at $129.04 per share, up 3.4%. Since announcing a 4-for-1 stock split on July 30, Apple's stock price has risen 34%, and during this process, it became the first U.S. listed company in history to surpass a $2 trillion market capitalization. Apple stated that this stock split would "allow a broader range of investors to access" the stock.

Due to the stock splits of Tesla and Apple, the Nasdaq index, which is tech-stock focused, hit another all-time high on the New York Stock Exchange that day. It closed at 11,775.46, up 0.68% (79.82 points) from the previous day, marking the 41st all-time high this year. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.78% (223.82 points) to 28,430.05 as Apple's weighting in the index decreased due to the stock split. The S&P 500 index fell 0.22% (7.70 points) to 3,500.31.

The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indices rose 7.6%, 7.0%, and 9.6%, respectively, in August. The Dow's monthly return was the highest since 1984, the S&P 500's highest since 1986, and the Nasdaq posted its best August performance since 2000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.