Elon Musk leapfrogs Mark Zuckerberg to become world's third-richest person

[SAN FRANCISCO] It's been an eventful few days for Elon Musk.

The billionaire tested positive for Covid-19, his rocket company launched four astronauts into space, and on Monday his electric carmaker Tesla was named for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index.

The last bit of news also means Mr Musk, 49, became the world's third-richest person, leapfrogging Mark Zuckerberg.

Tesla surged as much as 15 per cent on Monday in after hours trading. On Tuesday, the shares ended up 8.2 per cent, pushing his fortune US$7.6 billion higher to US$109.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His wealth has jumped US$82.2 billion this year, the biggest gain on the ranking of the world's 500 richest people.

Tesla will enter the S&P 500 on Dec 21 following months of speculation and one temporary setback, when the stock failed to make the cut during the index's quarterly rebalancing in early September. Tesla would be the biggest new entrant in the group's history.

On Saturday, Mr Musk tweeted that he "most likely" had a moderate case of Covid-19 and has had symptoms of "a minor cold". Sunday he tweeted he had no symptoms. That same day, four astronauts were launched to the International Space Station in a vehicle built by Mr Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

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