Elon Musk Is The First Person Worth More Than $300 Billion

After adding tens of billions to his net worth on Monday, Elon Musk has become the first person with more than $300 billion to his name. 

Musk’s fortune settled at $306.4 billion on Tuesday afternoon, Forbes estimates, after crossing the previously untouched $300 billion threshold on Monday as Tesla’s stock continued its tear. The electric car company’s market capitalization passed $1 trillion last week after Hertz announced it was buying 100,000 Tesla vehicles to add to its rental fleet—which would give Tesla $4.2 billion in cash, Bloomberg reported. Shares closed at a record $1,208 on Monday, giving Tesla a $1.2 trillion market cap and Musk a net worth of $315 billion. 

In a press release last week, Hertz claimed that rental Model 3s would start rolling out in major cities by early November. But Musk posted a tweet on Monday night that cast doubt on the mega-deal. “I’d like to emphasize that no contract has been signed yet ... Hertz deal has zero effect on our economics,” he wrote. By Tuesday morning, Tesla’s record ascent had reversed, and shares were down as much as 4% at the market open. The stock rebounded slightly by the early afternoon, closing Tuesday down 3% at $1,172 per share. That shaved about $8.6 billion off of Musk’s net worth from the day before. 

A spokesperson for Hertz maintains that the deal is on. “As we announced last week, Hertz has made an initial order of 100,000 Tesla electric vehicles and is investing in new EV charging infrastructure across the company's global operations,” the century-old rental car company wrote in a statement shared with Forbes. “Deliveries of the Teslas already have started.”