THE RICHEST

The man behind Tesla is now worth US$ 194.8B, even more than Jeff Bezos.

Tesla Inc. now commands a bigger market valuation than Facebook Inc., with the latest jolt to the electric-vehicle maker’s share price coming from the capitulation of a longtime Wall Street bear on Thursday. Tesla has been on a stunning run over the past year, recording a 743-per-cent gain in its stock in 2020. After Thursday’s advance, Tesla’s market capitalization stands at about US$774 billion, right above Facebook’s US$765 billion. Tesla rose 7.9 per cent to close at a high of US$816.04. Tesla’s relentless surge has forced Wall Street into a perpetual game of catch-up, with analysts’ average price target still far below the current stock price. On Thursday, RBC Capital Markets analyst Joseph Spak upgraded Tesla to the equivalent of a hold from a previous sell recommendation, saying he got the stock “completely wrong.”