Warren Buffett becomes sixth member of $100 billion club as Berkshire stocks surge

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chief Executive Warren Buffett has become the sixth member of the $100 billion clubs, as per Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While the iconic investor has been a constant in the list of the world’s richest, his rank plummeted as tech fortunes soared. However, on Wednesday, March 10, his net worth rose to $100.4 billion pushing him just a notch below Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, who ranks fifth on the list. The top four, meanwhile, include Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft co-Founder Bill Gates and luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault. 

90-year-old Buffet, whose earnings broadly depend on Berkshire, witnessed a good start to 2021 as company shares steadily rose. According to recent reports, the conglomerate’s A-shares are up by 15 percent this year, outpacing the 3.8 percent gain of the S&P 500 Index.

Google Co-Founders in line too

While Buffett slid down to $99.8 B on March 12, his presence in the 100 billion clubs is inevitable. Apart from Buffett, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin could also be seen as potential entrants to the club with their present net worth soaring to $96.8 billion and $93.6 billion respectively. 

Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk earned a profit of an estimated $25 billion in one single day, becoming the first to do so. On March 9, Tesla’s share rose by 20 percent pushing Musk’s fortune to $174 billion. Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have been battling for the number 1 rank since January. The shares of the electric car company have been plummeting since January end, however, the recent gain has pushed its founder’s fortunes closer to that of Bezos. In the aftermath, the two tech tycoons are less than $6 billion (roughly Rs. 43,580 crores) apart.

In the first month of the year, Musk has crowned the world’s richest percent after he gained $210 billion. However, in less than a month, Bezos reclaimed his position. The shares of Tesla Inc. plummeted by 2.4 percent on February 16 wiping $4.6 billion from Musk’s total wealth. Meanwhile, Bezos regained his number one position with a net wealth of $191.2 billion, or $955 million more than SpaceX CEO.