Elon Musk overtakes Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person thanks to Tesla's surging stock

• Elon Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos as the richest person on the planet on Thursday.
• "How strange," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted. "Well, back to work."
• The Tesla chief has added more than $150 billion to his fortune in the past year, after shares in his electric-vehicle company rocketed up 740% in 2020.
• Musk's wealth derives from his roughly 20% Tesla stake and 48% SpaceX stake, as well as 57 million exercisable Tesla stock options, Bloomberg says.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Elon Musk overtook Jeff Bezos as the world's wealthiest person for the first time on Thursday, based on calculations using the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

"How strange," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted in response to the news. "Well, back to work."

Tesla shares closed 8% higher at $816 on Thursday, boosting the net worth of its CEO to over $186 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon's shares closed less than 1% higher, lifting Bezos' fortune to about $185 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index listed Musk and Bezos' fortunes as $181 billion and $184 billion respectively as of Wednesday's close.

Read more: Investing legend Terry Smith's $30 billion equity fund returned 449% to investors over a decade - Here's his 4-part strategy for success and 10 pieces of investing wisdom to take into 2021

Musk's wealth on paper reflects his roughly 20% stake in Tesla and 48% stake in SpaceX, as well as 57 million vested Tesla stock options, Bloomberg says. Bezos' net worth largely derives from his 11% stake in Amazon.

---

The Tesla CEO's fortune has ballooned by more than $150 billion in the past year, Bloomberg said, after the electric-vehicle company's stock price rocketed up 740% in 2020.

Read more: Wall Street experts are calling Georgia's runoff results 'the first surprise of 2021.' Here's how 4 of them recommend positioning your portfolio for what could happen next. Musk and Bezos have left other billionaires in their rearview mirrors. The world's third-richest person, Bill Gates, was worth $132 billion as of Wednesday's close.