Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceXandTesla, has left behind Bernard Arnault and Jeff Bezos to become the richest person on the planet, as per the Forbes Real Time Billionaires list. Musk’s net worth has touched $210.7 billion, securing him the top spot, while Arnault has taken second place with $201 billion, and Bezos is in third place with $197.4 billion.

Musk’s wealth surge follows his purchase of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for $44 billion in October 2022. As of May 31, 2024, Musk leads the Forbes Real Time Billionaire list, which is updated recurrently to reflect changes in net worth. Mark Zuckerberg fourth ($163.9 billion), Larry Ellison fifth ($146.2 billion), Larry Page sixth ($142.6 billion), Sergey Brin seventh ($136.6 billion), Warren Buffett eighth ($134.9 billion), Bill Gates ninth ($128.6 billion), and Steve Ballmer tenth ($123.1 billion) follow Musk, Arnault and Bezos in the list. The Forbes Real Time Billionaires list mirrors real-time changes in the net worth of the world’s wealthiest individuals, updated daily and monthly to account for variations in their net assets.

This has happened merely two months after Musk lost his top position on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to Jeff Bezos after shares in Tesla dropped 7.2%. Musk net worth at that time was $197.7 billion while Bezos’s fortune was estimated to be $200.3 billion.

In the meantime, a Tesla shareholder has taken legal recourse against CEO Elon Musk, accusing him of insider trading. The suit claims that Musk sold over $7.5 billion in Tesla shares in late 2022 before unsatisfactory production and delivery numbers were made public. Shareholder Michael Perry claims Musk benefited inappropriately by about $3 billion. “Musk exploited his position at Tesla, and he breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla,” the lawsuit says, calling for Musk to return the extra revenues made from these trades. The shares were sold in November and December 2022.

The lawsuit also alleges that Tesla’s directors breached their fiduciary duty by letting Musk to sell the shares. Perry argues Musk was aware about lower-than-expected numbers in mid-November due to his access to real-time data. “Musk improperly benefited by about $3 billion in insider profits,” the lawsuit stated. “Had [Musk] waited to make these sales until after the release of material adverse news… his sales would have netted him less than 55% of the amounts realised from his November and December 2022 sales,” as cited by Reuters.