Musk is second wealthiest person

NEW YORK: Elon Musk, the charismatic chief of electric automaker Tesla, has overtaken Bill Gates to become the world´s second richest person, according to the Bloomberg list of billionaires.

The South African-born Musk, 49, added $7.2 billion in wealth on Monday alone following Tesla´s latest surge. He now has an estimated $128 billion. The outspoken Musk, who is also cofounder of SpaceX, had already overtaken numerous luminaries in recent weeks, including Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Bernard Arnault, the head of French luxury giant LVMH. Now the only person he stands behind is Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, whose wealth is estimated at $182 billion.