Elon Musk topples Bill Gates to become world’s second richest person

The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth rose by $7.2bn to $127.9bn following a surge in Tesla's share price

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 Elon Musk (R) overtakes Bill Gates (L) to become the world's, second-richest man. — Photos by AFP

Following a sharp surge in Tesla’s share price, Elon Musk, a South African-born American entrepreneur, overtook Microsoft founder Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

"The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth rose by $7.2bn (£5.4bn) to $127.9bn as the maverick chief executive of the electric car company is now ranked immediately behind the Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos," read the publication.

Read more: Elon Musk got the title of 'real-life Iron Man' after his assistance in Marvel films

Besides Musk's electric car company, the young entrepreneur also exhibits his interests in spacecraft as his company SpaceX sent four astronauts to the International Space Station last week.

SpaceX is about to launch 60 broadband internet satellites into orbit, after suffering delays due to poor weather conditions, the report highlighted.

Just about a week ago, Musk overtook Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and grabbed a spot on among the wealthiest of the world.

"The 36-year-old Facebook founder has fallen back into the fourth spot this week, behind the French businessman Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company," said the British publication.