Elon Musk Is The Richest Person In The World Again

After losing the top spot on Forbes’ ranking of the world’s richest people Thursday, the Tesla chief overtook Bernard Arnault of French luxury conglomerate LVMH Friday morning.

Tesla chief Elon Musk added $5 billion to his fortune since Thursday’s stock market close, as of noon ET Friday, as shares of his electric vehicle maker rallied by 5% amid otherwise flat markets. That was enough for Musk to regain his title as the world’s richest person. Musk is now worth an estimated $190 billion–$3 billion more than number two Bernard Arnault of French luxury conglomerate LVMH, who overtook Musk on Thursday.

Arnault also passed Musk twice Wednesday, but by the time U.S. markets closed, Musk had regained the lead, with an estimated net worth of $185.4 billion, $700 million more than Arnault. On Thursday, the Frenchman held the top spot at the end of the day, worth an estimated $186.2 billion, after investors reacted negatively to a report that Musk might replace some of Twitter’s debt with a personal margin loan backed by Tesla stock. Musk ended the day worth an estimated $185 billion.

“TSLA is bouncing after a difficult week for the shares, fueled by a better-than-expected consumer confidence number and greater clarity surrounding conflicting reports earlier in the week regarding a planned production cut at its Shanghai factory this month,” says CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson.

Tesla stock is down more than 50% this year, with most of that decline occurring since Musk announced his $44 billion Twitter takeover in mid-April. Investors may sense that the bottom is near; Tesla closed Thursday within $8 of its 52-week low.

That may be a mistake, according to Tesla bear David Trainer, CEO of equity research firm New Constructs. “Tesla's stock remains grossly overvalued and its rise over the past few years suggests that many investors are simply chasing hot stocks that have poor underlying business models,” he says. “When we do see days where Tesla's stock is up, it just shows how investors aren't doing their due diligence and don't care about intelligent capital allocation.”

Regardless of whether that’s the case, Tesla’s Friday morning rally was enough to make Musk the richest person in the world once again. But as the past two days have shown, that could change before the weekend.