Ambani, Musk neck and neck for 5th spot in richest list

Currently, Mukesh Ambani is at the fifth position with a net worth of $76.2 billion

ambani-musk Mukesh Ambani and Elon Musk | File

Hours after Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani broke into the top five billionaires in the world, Tesla's Elon Musk gave him a run for his money, albeit for a brief period. Amid soaring price of Tesla shares, the CEO of the electric carmaker breached the top five list of richest persons in the world.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ambani was at the fifth position with a net worth of $75 billion, in the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List. Soon, Musk's net worth soared to $74 billion after Tesla shares witnessed a jump. However, Musk's stay at the fifth spot was momentary as Tesla shares went south. Musk was pushed to the seventh spot, below equity mogul Warren Buffett ($72.6 billion) who is at the sixth position, as the former settled at $72.4 billion. Meanwhile, Ambani's net worth has risen to $76.2 billion as of Thursday, aided by RIL shares. 

However, it is likely that Musk's net worth might rise again on Thursday as Tesla posted a second-quarter profit on Wednesday. The results sent its stock up 4.4 per cent in after-hours trading. 

The electric car maker scored profits of $104 million in the quarter ending June 30 compared with a loss of $408 million in the year-ago period. Revenues fell five percent to $6 billion. Tesla shares have exploded in 2020 as the company has met key targets. 

Tesla's share price has risen by more than $1,000 per-share this year, making Musk one of the 10 wealthiest billionaires in the world, according to Forbes, and lifting the company's valuation to many times that of General Motors and other conventional auto giants that sell many times the volume of Tesla.

Currently, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos rules the Forbes billionaires's list with a net worth of $183.6 billion. He is followed by Bill Gates ($113.8 billion), Bernard Arnault and family ($112.1 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg ($88.3 billion).