Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Thursday overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the world’s 500 wealthiest people. When United States markets closed on Thursday, Musk had a net worth of $194.8 billion (approximately Rs 14 lakh crore), which is about $9.5 billion (about Rs 69,000 crore) more than Bezos, according to Bloomberg.

Musk’s steep rise to the top spot was boosted by the 743% surge in Tesla’s share prices over the past year owing to consistent profits and inclusion in the S&P 500 index. On Thursday, the electric car maker’s shares surged 7.9%.

In the past year alone, Musk has added $165 billion (approximately Rs 12.1 lakh crore) to his fortune, the report said.

However, Forbes said that Musk was not yet the richest man in the world and estimated his net worth to be around $175.2 billion (approximately Rs 12.8 lakh crore), while it said Bezos has a net worth of $186.8 billion (approximately Rs 13.7 lakh crore).

The 49-year-old South African engineer’s first reactions to reports that he was the richest man in the world included “how strange” and “well, back to work”.

Bezos had become the richest man in the world in 2017, ending Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ decades-long run at the top. One of the reasons for the decrease in Bezos’ wealth is reportedly his divorce settlement. Bezos transferred stocks worth around $36 billion when he finalised his divorce with his wife MacKenzie Bezos in April 2019. It was said to be the biggest divorce settlement in history.