Elon Musk now richer than Warren Buffett

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has officially overtaken Warren Buffett on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to become the world's seventh wealthiest person.

The fortune of Musk rose more than $6 billion on July 10 after Tesla's stock surged 10.8% to a record $1,544 per share. Its market value stood at $286.5 billion, reports CNN citing Bloomberg. 

Musk owns 20.8% of Tesla's stock, making his stake worth just under $60 billion. Musk is also the primary shareholder of privately held SpaceX, as well as a privately held tunneling company.

Buffett's fortune fell this week after he donated nearly $3 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock to charity — part of his plan to give away most of his wealth to philanthropic ventures.

Tesla's stock is up more than 500% over the past 12 months, exceeding the value of almost every company in the S&P 500. The electric car maker is the most valuable auto company on Earth.

The 49-year-old Musk could eventually become the world's richest person — a spot currently held by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — based on a pay package that Tesla shareholders approved in 2018.

At the end of May, Tesla granted Musk stock options worth $1.8 billion today. Now, it's about to do that again — for a second time in just over two months.

Musk's pay package lays out a plan that could eventually give him 20.3 million stock options over the course of 10 years.