Musk, win thoroughly!
Over the weekend, the news of Elon Musk, the world's richest man and CEO of Tesla, experiencing a surge in wealth has attracted the attention of many media outlets and netizens. On Friday, Tesla's stock price surged by over 5%, with a cumulative increase of over 56% so far this year, and its market value rising to $1.25 trillion. With the soaring stock price of Tesla, Musk's net worth has also reached a new milestone. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of Friday's close, Musk's net worth was approximately $362 billion, an increase of $133 billion since the beginning of the year, making him the billionaire with the most wealth growth this year.
It is worth noting that Musk's skyrocketing wealth is closely related to Trump's election victory. Since Trump's victory, Tesla has seen a cumulative increase of nearly 55% and a market value growth of over $440 billion. According to a document released by the Federal Election Commission on the evening of the 5th, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk donated $259 million (approximately RMB 1.883 billion) to groups supporting Trump's 2024 campaign, becoming one of the largest presidential campaign sponsors in US history.
Analysts have pointed out that Musk has placed all his bets on Trump's victory, so it is understandable why the market sees Tesla as a beneficiary. Especially under the leadership of the Trump administration, regulatory easing may be provided for Tesla. Recently, investment banks Stifel and Bank of America both raised their target prices for Tesla.
Elon Musk's net worth exceeds $360 billion
On Friday of this week, Tesla's stock price surged 5.34% to close at $389.22, with a market value of $1.25 trillion. Since the beginning of this year, Tesla has seen a cumulative increase of 56.6%. With the soaring stock price of Tesla, the value of CEO Musk has also reached a new milestone.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of Friday's close, Musk's net worth was approximately $362 billion, a surge of $133 billion so far this year, firmly holding the top spot on the global billionaire list. Currently, Musk's net worth is about $122 billion higher than that of Amazon founder Bezos, who ranks second on the billionaire list.
Musk is also the billionaire with the most wealth increase this year, followed closely by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth has grown by $87.3 billion this year, reaching $215 billion and ranking third on the rich list. In addition, Nvidia CEO Huang Renxun's wealth increased by $82.6 billion this year, second only to Musk and Zuckerberg. Huang Renxun's latest net worth is $127 billion, currently ranking 11th on the rich list.
Currently, there are 17 billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a wealth exceeding $100 billion, including 10 American tech tycoons.
Bank of America raises Tesla target price
On December 5th local time, John Murphy, an analyst at Bank of America Securities, raised Tesla's target price from $350 to $400 and maintained a "buy" rating after visiting Tesla's Gigafactory in Austin. Murphy stated in the report that this visit has strengthened his confidence in Tesla, and he expects the company to achieve growth after 2025 through its core electric vehicle business, launch of autonomous taxi products, and long-term investment in Optimus (the humanoid robot Optimus Prime).
Murphy emphasized that Tesla's upcoming low-cost electric vehicle will be the first important driving force for the company's growth, and it is expected that this electric vehicle priced below $30000 will be launched in the first half of 2025. Murphy believes that the new car will expand Tesla's total potential market (TAM). Murphy also expects that low-cost models will not be Tesla's only new models in 2025.
Speaking of Tesla's fully autonomous driving technology (FSD), Murphy believes that the test drive process reflects significant improvements in the vehicle. Murphy also described the performance of the Cybertruck and Model Y they were riding on in complex road conditions, calling the process "seamless" and "successful". Murphy also pointed out that the minimum intervention of Tesla FSD technology may only require once every 10000 miles, and emphasized that the technology is close to the safety level required for robot taxi services.
Tesla previously announced that it will expand the testing scope of its autonomous taxis and plans to conduct more extensive trials next year. CEO Musk revealed during a recent earnings conference call that Cybercab is expected to enter mass production in 2026 and has set an ambitious goal of producing 2 million Cybercabs annually to meet market demand.
Murphy also put forward an interesting viewpoint about Tesla's humanoid robot Optimus. He pointed out that Tesla is currently using Optimus to classify batteries without human intervention and testing its flexibility through use cases such as connecting to a tennis ball. Tesla plans to deploy 1000 Optimus robots in Giga Austin by the end of 2025. Murphy believes that as Tesla's robot taxi technology matures, the "computing power" of Tesla's supercomputer will shift towards Optimus development, accelerating robot training. Murphy believes that Optimus is more like a 'long-term potential' opportunity, as its cost will decrease with improved performance and production will increase in 2026 and beyond.
Recently, Stephen Gengaro, an analyst at investment bank Stifel, also significantly raised Tesla's target price. The analyst raised Tesla's stock target price from $287 to $411 and maintained a "buy" rating. Gengaro wrote, "We believe that purchasing Tesla stock requires foresight, patience, and a willingness to accept volatility. While we have confidence in Tesla's automotive business, its AI based fully autonomous driving capabilities and the enormous value creation potential of Cybercab support our positive expectations for the company's future
Gengaro said that Musk's relationship and involvement with the Trump administration is a good sign for Tesla. Gengaro added that Tesla has a clearer path in obtaining regulatory approval for its fully autonomous and semi autonomous driving projects, as well as autonomous robot taxis.
Tesla seems to be fully promoting its FSD system, and recently added a dedicated area on the order page of its US official website to showcase videos of FSD operating in actual road conditions. Previously, Tesla's order page only listed a graphical display of FSD's feature list and system capabilities. The updated order page includes 13 real-world FSD videos, clearly demonstrating how the system can navigate from one location to another.
Adding real FSD videos can help more consumers understand the capabilities of this advanced driving assistance system. Tesla also explicitly stated on the order page that the current version of FSD has not yet achieved fully autonomous driving, and with the system activated, the vehicle can "travel almost anywhere with minimal driver intervention".
In November, Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, stated that Trump's presidency would "change" Tesla's efforts in autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. The analyst raised Tesla's target stock price from $300 to $400. He estimates that the opportunity for artificial intelligence and autonomous driving alone is worth $1 trillion for Tesla, maintaining a buy rating on the stock.