Elon Musk's Wealth Hit $222 Billion As He Widens His Lead Over Jeff Bezos

Musk gained $8.6 billion since Friday's closing and more than $52 billion year-to-date, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index says. Tesla (TSLA) shares are also climbing, as they recover from a rocky year. They are up 13% year-to-date, far less than its 743% gain in 2020. Still, that's a big improvement from when they were down 22% for the year in May.

Musk and Bezos — the two richest men on earth — are embroiled in a billionaire space race. Even before it launched the first tourism mission to space on Inspiration4 in September, Musk's SpaceX won massive NASA and US military contracts and flew the most powerful rocket in operation.