Last Tuesday, Donald Trump won the presidential election by a margin that no poll was able to predict. After the final counts, the Republican politician secured 312 electoral votes, compared to the 226 won by Democrat Kamala Harris.
The inauguration is set for January 20, and it is expected that the other big winner of the election, Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer, will be present at the ceremony.
From being a fierce opponent of the Republican, Musk has become "his best friend." Even when one of the measures planned by the future White House occupant is to scrap the electric vehicle stimulus plan initiated by Joe Biden, which according to Trump, "will lead the U.S. car industry to its destruction."
Musk's victory is not related to the possibility of joining the new federal administration as "cost reduction secretary," tasked with reducing the number of officials in the country's public administration. Two years ago, he acquired the social network X (formerly Twitter) and showed his approach: he laid off 50% of the staff, although later he had to rehire many employees he needed.
The triumph is reflected in one of the aspects that interest the Australian the most: his wealth. Major investors seem to understand that his companies, including SpaceX, will benefit from the alliance with the future president and are acknowledging this on the stock market. Specifically, in the case of Tesla: since the election results were known on Wednesday morning, its stocks have surged by 35.1%, rising from $259 to $350 at the close of Wall Street yesterday.
This means that in less than four business days (excluding Saturday and Sunday), Musk, who owns 411 million shares, has increased his fortune by $37.4 billion. This also means that he has nearly 300 times multiplied the bet he made with Trump. According to Republican Party records, the Tesla founder 'invested' $130 million in rallies, advertising, and speeches for the Republican candidate and his vice president, J.D. Vance. He also set in motion all the gears of his social network, X, with numerous messages supporting the New York magnate.
As a result, his overall wealth amounts to $320 billion, according to real-time monitoring by Forbes magazine of the world's wealthiest individuals. In that list, the founder and CTO of Oracle, Larry Ellison, ranks second with $233 billion. Spanish businessman Amancio Ortega (Inditex) ranks tenth with $123.8 billion.
Musk's leadership could be even more prominent if the appreciation of another 288 million stock options (9% of the capital) included in the controversial compensation plan approved by shareholders in January of this year were taken into account. Valued at around $56 billion considering all compensations, it was halted by a Delaware court, which has yet to rule.