KEY POINTS

Elon Musk becomes first person to reach $500 billion in personal wealth.

A surge in electric vehicle sales drove up the Tesla CEO's net worth.

Overall U.S. EV sales were up before the end of a federal tax credit.

Solidifying his position as the world’s richest person, tech mogul Elon Musk became the first to reach the $500 billion mark as a surge in electric vehicle sales helped push his personal wealth to a lofty new height.

According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires tracker , Musk reached $500.1 billion at 3:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday after Tesla stock prices gained 4%, adding over $9 billion to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s net worth.

Tesla’s stock jump came ahead of Thursday’s release of third-quarter sales figures for the electric vehicle maker, showing a record 497,0

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