Elon Musk’s wealth spikes $13.4B, making him richer than Finland

Elon Musk can now buy countries

In just 24 hours, space entrepreneur Elon Musk gained more wealth than most of us will see in a lifetime, which in turn has made him richer than an entire country. From November 1 to November 2, Musk's fortune grew by $13.4 billion, topping up his piggy bank to a whopping $307bn. Though his 24-hour surge is undoubtedly impressive, Musk's growth over the year has been astronomical. For instance, in April 2020, he had a measly $24.6bn to his name and now he has enough coin to buy Finland, reports Forbes. Musk is now so wildly minted that he could purchase entire countries. Finland has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $303bn, which is $4bn less than Musk's accumulated wealth.

But how has Musk gained so much in so little time?

On October 8, a sale of shares by investors meant that SpaceX became the second most valuable private company in the world, with a valuation of more than $100bn. Luck must be on Musk's side because on October 25, car rental company Hertz splashed out on 100,000 electric cars from Tesla, which consequently increased share prices by 13 per cent. "[It's] the richest he's ever been, and likely the richest person to ever walk the planet," wrote Forbes' Eliza Haverstock. "He's richer than any billionaire Forbes has ever tracked." Recently, Musk declared that he would donate $6bn to end world hunger if the UN could provide a detailed plan of how the money would be spent. Many were quick to call out the billionaire for playing to the masses while others dug a little deeper. CEO and philanthropist Dan Price tweeted: "We know how this is going to end: Elon Musk is going to donate $6 billion to help solve world hunger - 1.8% of his fortune. He'll write it off and pay $0 in taxes. He'll be named Time's Person of the Year as a great philanthropist while the average family pays a 14% tax rate."