Elon Musk adds $57 billion to his wealth, becomes fourth richest in world

Elon Musk’s financial surge doesn't seem to slowdown any time soon.

The outspoken technology entrepreneur is now the fourth richest person in the worldafter Tesla Inc. Shares surged 11% on Monday, closing at a record high and augmenting Musk’s net worth by $7.8 billion.

The increase took the Tesla co-founder past French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, the wealthiest non-American on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Musk's $84.8 billion fortune puts him within $15 billion of Mark Zuckerberg, number three on the ranking of the world's 500 richest people.

Monday's Tesla rally is just the latest win for the billionaire who only two years ago was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and had to resign from the post of chairman of the electric car maker over rogue tweets. Tesla shares are up 339% this year, fueled by growing anticipation that the company will be included in the S&P 500 Index.

Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp also known as is poised to potentially pad his fortune further.

The company is close to finalizing $2 billion in new funding that would increase its equity valuation to $46 billion, Bloomberg reported last week.

Musk's wealth has gonr up by $57.2 billion this year, the second-biggest increase on the index. Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos is this year's biggest gainer, up $73 billion.

Also Read: Facebook row: BJP MP urges all NDA MPs in Parliamentary panel to write to LS Speaker against Committee chairman