Elon Musk Net Worth Surges: Tesla Robotaxi Rollout Helps Billionaire Wealth Hit More Than 2X Value Of Bill Gates

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk added $19 billion to his wealth on Monday thanks to a stock rally that pushed his wealth to be worth more than that of many other billionaires combined.

What Happened: Tesla’s stock spiked Monday after the rollout of robotaxi vehicles in Texas as part of a test for autonomous vehicles.

With $385 billion, Musk remains the world’s richest man — worth more than twice the wealth of his rival, Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder is currently the fifth-richest person in the world and worth $176 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

While Gates has added $17.4 billion to his wealth in 2025, Musk's wealth remains down $47.5 billion with Tesla stock still down around 10% year-to-date.

The billionaires list shows that Musk is worth more than two Bill Gates and Nike co-founder Phil Knight ($30.5 billion) combined.

The fact that Musk is worth more than twice the wealth of Gates is significant for several reasons. Gates formerly topped the list of the world's richest, showing just how far ahead the Tesla CEO is of everyone else. It could also show that Gates' wealth has declined over time due to a divorce and philanthropic efforts.

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Why It's Important: Musk being worth more than twice the net worth of Gates is also significant, given a rivalry between the Tesla CEO and Microsoft co-founder.  

Gates is one of the many people who have bet against Musk and Tesla over the years.

In a February 2021 appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Musk revealed that he believed Gates had a short position on Tesla stock.

“I also heard that at one point he had a large short position. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it seems weird. People I know who know the situation pretty well, I asked them ‘are you sure?’ and they said ‘yes, he has a huge short position on Tesla.' That didn’t work out too well,” Musk told Joe Rogan.

Shortly after the comments from Musk, Gates was interviewed by CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin.

“What Elon’s done with Tesla is fantastic,” Gates said. “We need more Elon Musks.”

Gates was asked directly if he was short Tesla stock.

“I don’t talk about my investments,” Gates replied, failing to deny the accusation.

In April 2022, leaked texts between Gates and Musk revealed that Gates was still short the stock. Ahead of a proposed meeting between the two billionaires, Musk asked Gates via text if he still held a short position on Tesla.

“Sorry to say I haven’t closed it out,” Gates said. “I would like to discuss philanthropy possibilities.”

Musk's reply to Gates was straightforward and sharp. “Sorry, But I cannot take your philanthropy on climate change seriously when you have a massive, short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change.”

Musk told a user on Twitter that the texts were authentic.

Gates has praised Musk for his work on electric vehicles but criticized the company’s other clean energy initiatives. He also disapproved of Musk’s work with the Trump administration, such as cuts to USAID.

“It’s important to say that what Elon did with Tesla is one of the greatest contributions to climate change anyone’s ever made. And you know, underestimating Elon is not a good idea,” Gates told the New York Times.

Tesla’s current valuation is around $1.1 trillion, likely hurting Gates financially if he still has his short position.

Tesla stock is currently trading at around $342 per share, down almost 2% at last check Tuesday.

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