Patrick Pleul/Pool via Reuters
- Tesla stock's 21% surge over the past week has catapulted Elon Musk's net worth ahead of Exxon Mobil's market value.
- Musk's net worth of about $285 billion is just ahead of Exxon Mobil's $272 billion valuation on Tuesday.
- Musk set out to disrupt the oil industry when he joined Tesla as an investor and chairman in 2004.
Elon Musk's vision of disrupting the oil industry is beginning to accelerate following years of electric vehicle adoption, and now the Tesla CEO is worth more than the world's oldest oil giant: Exxon Mobil.
Musk, who owned a 22.4% stake in Tesla at the start of this year, has seen his net worth explode to more than $280 billion this week after a a rally in shares catapulted the electric vehicle maker to a more than $1 trillion valuation.
That makes Musk worth more than Exxon Mobil's market capitalization of $272 billion as of Tuesday afternoon.
Tesla stock's jump started last week after the company reported record revenues and profits in its third quarter earnings report. But the rally was supercharged on Monday after Hertz announced the purchase of 100,000 Model 3 cars for its rental locations in the US and Europe. Tesla surged about 13% on Monday, and extended its gains to about 2% on Tuesday.
The recent week of good news has helped Musk's net worth jump by about $40 billion in just four trading days. Musk's Tesla stake, combined with his estimated 48% stake in SpaceX, makes Musk the richest person in the world with about $285 billion. SpaceX was most recently valued at $100 billion.
Musk has held a particular disdain for the oil industry, which was likely a driving force behind his 2004 investment in the firm. That investment secured Musk as chairman of the board. Musk went on to become CEO of Tesla in 2008, and brought the company public in 2010.
Since then, Tesla has surged 21,341% and is now the fifth largest publicly traded company. And some think the gains can continue, like Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who said Tesla stock could jump an additional 50% if it tackles its supply-chain bottleneck.