The industrial magnate Mukesh Ambani, the biggest shareholder in India’s most valuable company, Reliance Industries, has become only the 11th member of the exclusive $100bn net worth club. He’s only the second non-American to gain admittance and one of only three members not to have built their fortune in the tech sector.
Record profits followed closely by news of a mammoth 100,000 vehicle order from the rental company Hertz, saw Tesla’s valuation vault past the $1trn mark for the first time on Monday (25 Oct). Its shares rallied more than 12.5% to be almost 30% up over the course of October.
Since the early days of the pandemic in March last year when Tesla’s share price fell below $100, it has risen more than tenfold. Monday’s gains saw the shares sweep past the $1,000 mark for the first time as Tesla became the second-fastest company in history to pass the $1trn milestone (closely behind Facebook).
The company is now worth more than General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Honda (and several others) combined.
The news added an estimated $36bn to the personal wealth of Elon Musk – who’s personally now worth more than the oil major Exxon Mobil – and helped the US S&P 500 Index to close on a second record high in three sessions.
Facebook shares made minor gains on Monday night (25 Oct) thanks to robust results and promises of an increased share buyback scheme. This helped repair some of the damage it suffered on Friday (22 Oct) when social media stocks sold off following a stark earnings forecast from Snap.
Facebook revealed on Monday that third quarter revenues rose 35% (to $29bn) compared to a year ago but narrowly missed analysts’ estimates, while profits rose 17% to $9.2bn. Advertising revenue was up 33% to $28.3bn.
The strong numbers were a brief respite for Facebook following a torrential and ongoing dump of internal reports by former company-insider turned whistle-blower, Frances Haugen, which, along with her US Senate testimony, has created a storm of global media coverage.
The reports show Facebook is well aware of the danger it poses to vulnerable groups like teenage girls. They also show that US teenage users of Facebook are projected to decline 45% over the next two years.
