Elon Musk tops Forbes Billionaires list with $210.7 billion net worth; surpasses Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos

Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has surpassed Bernard Arnault and Jeff Bezos to become the richest person in the world, according to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list. Musk's net worth has reached $210.7 billion, securing him the top spot, while Arnault holds second place with $201 billion, and Bezos is in third with $197.4 billion. 

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Musk's wealth surge follows his acquisition of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for $44 billion in October 2022. 

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As of May 31, 2024, Musk leads the Forbes Real Time Billionaire list, which is updated regularly to reflect changes in net worth.

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Following Musk, Arnault and Bezos, the list ranks Mark Zuckerberg fourth with $163.9 billion, Larry Ellison fifth with $146.2 billion, Larry Page sixth with $142.6 billion, Sergey Brin seventh with $136.6 billion, Warren Buffett eighth with $134.9 billion, Bill Gates ninth with $128.6 billion, and Steve Ballmer tenth with $123.1 billion.

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The Forbes Real Time Billionaires list reflects real-time changes in the net worth of the world's richest individuals, updated daily and monthly to account for fluctuations in their net assets.

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Meanwhile, a Tesla shareholder has filed a lawsuit against CEO Elon Musk, accusing him of insider trading. The suit alleges Musk sold over $7.5 billion in Tesla shares in late 2022 before disappointing production and delivery numbers were made public. Shareholder Michael Perry claims Musk benefited improperly by about $3 billion, as per Reuters.

“Musk exploited his position at Tesla, and he breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla,” the lawsuit states, calling for Musk to return the profits made from these trades. The shares were sold in November and December 2022, as quoted by Reuters.

The lawsuit also accuses Tesla's directors of breaching their fiduciary duty by allowing Musk to sell the shares. Perry argues Musk knew about lower-than-expected numbers in mid-November due to his access to real-time data.

“Musk improperly benefited by about $3 billion in insider profits,” the lawsuit said. “Had [Musk] waited to make these sales until after the release of material adverse news... his sales would have netted him less than 55% of the amounts realised from his November and December 2022 sales,” as quoted by Reuters.