Musk loses title as richest person - and takes it back

New York. In the billionaire race for the title of the world's richest person, Elon Musk was briefly ousted from first place. Following a jump in the share price of software giant Oracle, the company's 81-year-old founder, Larry Ellison, temporarily secured the title on Wednesday (local time). But the stock market is fickle: According to the financial service Bloomberg, Musk was back in the lead by the close of trading, as Oracle's shares gave up some of their gains.

The difference between the two wealthy individuals is currently around one billion US dollars—a marginal amount considering their combined assets. Musk is worth 384.2 billion US dollars, while Ellison is worth 383.2 billion.

The wealth of both is so large that it could finance the living expenses of approximately five million average US households for a year. Or it could provide all of South Africa—measured by the country's gross domestic product—with a year of paid vacation.

Musk first took the top spot four years ago – primarily thanks to his stake in electric car manufacturer Tesla, whose market value has fluctuated since then.

RND/AP