Elon Musk Becomes The Richest Man On The Planet, Leaves Jeff Bezos Behind Elon Musk becomes the richest person on the planet with a net worth of $188.5 billion. He overtook Amazon Chief Jeff Bezos, who held the spot since October 2017 | 8 Jan 2021 4:49 AM GMT New Delhi: The outspoken entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk is the richest man on the planet. A business magnate, engineer and industrial designer, Elon Musk has scripted history, as he overtook the Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, to become the richest person in the world. The information was reported by the US media on Thursday. Musk went past Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is a ranking of the world's 500 wealthiest people. What made him overtake the Amazon chief is the 4.8 per cent rally in Tesla's share price on Thursday. The net worth of Musk is $188.5 billion at 10.15 AM in New York on Thursday. His net worth is 1.5 billion more than Bezos, who has held the topmost spot since October 2017. Musk is a rival to Bezos in the private space race.