Elon Musk’s backing of President-elect Donald Trump has paid off handsomely as his net worth surged past the $300 billion mark on Friday — much of it due to Tesla’s market capitalization surpassing $1 trillion.
Musk, who donated nearly $120 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, was worth $302 billion as of Friday, according to Forbes, which calculated his fortune by factoring in his 20% stake in Tesla as well as his estimated 42% equity in SpaceX.
In November 2020, around 75% of Musk’s wealth was derived from his stake in Tesla.
“Tesla and CEO Elon Musk are perhaps the biggest winners from the election result, and we believe Trump’s victory will help expedite regulatory approval of the company’s autonomous driving technology,” said Garrett Nelson, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.
Under a Trump administration, Musk could push for favorable regulation of autonomous vehicles that Tesla plans and also get the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to hold off on potential enforcement actions involving the safety of Tesla’s current driver-assistance systems, a source told Reuters.
Musk is also the majority owner of xAI, the artificial intelligence startup that he founded last year. Musk’s stake in the company, which is in talks on a new funding round that could value the firm at as much as $40 billion, is 60%, according to Forbes.
Musk has crossed the $300 billion threshold before. In November 2021, Tesla’s stock reach an all-time high of $407 per share. But the company’s stock plummeted by as much as 72% — falling to $113.06 a share in January of last year.
As of Friday, Tesla stock was trading at around $317 a share — up around 7% from the opening bell.
Tesla shares jumped in late October after the company reported a rise in quarterly profit margin, buoyed by sales of the highly profitable Full Self Driving driver assistance software.
It has been the world’s most valuable automaker for years, with Japan’s Toyota Motor, BYD and others trailing by several hundred billion dollars.
Musk unloaded a large chunk of his shares in Tesla in order to help finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he has since rebranded as X.
According to Forbes, Musk overpaid for X, which as of August was worth nearly 70% less than the $44 billion price tag.
Tesla has struggled in recent years to maintain its market share as high inflation spurred weaker demand for electric vehicles.
The EV maker has also faced increasingly intense competition from rivals in China, where domestic manufacturers such as Warren Buffett-backed BYD and Xiaomi have disrupted the market.
Trump has said he would tap Musk to lead a new government efficiency commission. Musk has said at least $2 trillion could be cut from the $6.75 trillion federal budget.
Musk has focused on self-driving vehicle technology, ditching plans to build an economy car priced at under $30,000. However, development and regulatory hurdles have delayed the commercialization of such technologies.
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