It seems fitting that Elon Musk has become the second richest person in the world during the month we have written about:

• a major Chinese recall over Model S and Model X suspensions falling apart 

• 159,000 Tesla vehicles that can likely expect their infotainment systems to die at some point soon

• the Model X having an “exploit” that allows you to clone its key and steal it for “about $300 in equipment”

• a Tesla wreck that launched scalding hot battery parts into the homes of innocent bystanders

• Jay Clayton preparing to step down from the SEC

And that’s just this month.

Did we mention that Musk was also accused of having committed securities fraud? And that there’s vaguely odd options buying and accounting practices that appear to be driving his company’s value – and his net worth – higher at the same time?

But we digress. We guess, with all those things out of the way, we can congratulate Musk, who is now second only on the rich list to Jeff Bezos after passing Bill Gates, who Musk called a “knucklehead” back in September. 

Musk’s wealth now stands at $127.9 billion after adding $100.3 billion to his net worth in just this year alone. 

It isn’t just Musk who is making out like a bandit while the rest of the world forges through unprecedented economic turmoil as a result of the Covid-19 shutdowns. Thanks to the Fed’s unlimited QE bazooka in March of this year, members of Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index have seen their wealth rise 23% – or $1.3 trillion – since the beginning of the year, per Bloomberg. 

Meanwhile, the market’s relentless driving up of Tesla stock (for whatever reason it is happening) has taken Tesla’s perceived market value by the stock market to nearly half of all remaining global automakers.

We noted back in October that Musk’s compensation had reached $11.8 billion at the same time Tesla was was working on a $5.6 billion accumulated deficit, as per the company’s last 10-Q. 

Musk’s latest pay award comes as a result of Tesla reaching milestones for “adjusted EBITDA” (yes, there was a multi-billion dollar compensation plan award for an adjusted number) and market cap.