New York (AFP)

The American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla crossed the symbolic threshold of $ 100 billion in market capitalization for the first time on Wednesday, which should bring in $ 346 million to its emblematic boss Elon Musk, according to AFP calculations.

The action jumped 7.3% to 587.14 dollars around 5:05 p.m. GMT on Wall Street, which was equivalent to a value of the whole of the titles of Tesla of 106 billion.

Tesla outclasses Volkswagen (around $ 100 billion) and is worth more than General Motors and Ford combined ($ 87 billion) on the stock market, which each produce an average of 10 million vehicles per year, compared to just 500,000 units for the Californian group.

The group, born in 2003, has taken a clear lead in the electric car, considered with the autonomous vehicle, as the future of the automobile at a time when environmental policies are toughened around the world.

If its first models - the Model S sedan, the Model X SUV - are expensive and are driven by celebrities and the wealthy, Tesla has embarked on mass production with the Model 3, whose base price of 35,000 dollars allows him to seduce the middle classes.

- Transform the electric -

This transformation was accompanied by problems in the main Tesla factory in Fremont, in particular bottlenecks, but the group managed to overcome them and increased its production rates.

Tesla, which has never made an annual profit since its creation, published a surprise profit in October, said it was ahead of its production schedule in China and hinted at the imminent arrival of its fourth model, the crossover Model Y.

The group is also building its European factory near Berlin, which will bring it closer to the market and allow it to reduce its costs.

"The company has the most impressive product track record among all players in the automotive industry (...) and will be at the forefront of the transformation of electric vehicles over the next decade," said Daniel Ives, expert at Wedbush.

He therefore estimates that the action could up to $ 900 in the medium term.

The big winner of this soaring market is Mr. Musk, to whom the crossing of the threshold of 100 billion should bring in 346 million dollars because his remuneration as general manager has been indexed, since March 2018, on the performance of the company.

The shareholders of the Californian group had in fact granted the manager, over a ten-year period, 20.3 million Tesla shares, equivalent to $ 56 billion.

However, it can only receive them in increments of 1%, or 1.69 million shares, each time Tesla crosses a threshold on the stock market and reaches a certain level of turnover and profit.

- Engineering -

Twelve market capitalization thresholds to be crossed have been determined, the highest of which is $ 650 billion to be reached by 2028.

Elon Musk must nevertheless wait before he can touch the money, the company's market capitalization having to stay at this level for a while.

This gem remains far from the $ 638 million collected in 2017 by Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snap, when the social network went public.

Mr. Musk, architect of the success of Tesla of which he is the handyman, also holds 18.91% of the capital of Tesla, that is to say 34 million titles, being worth approximately 20 billion dollars.

Under his rule, Tesla, which was worth $ 4 billion on the stock market in 2012, has become a leading player in the automobile; the one whose name is synonymous with technological innovations.

"He is one of the most intelligent among us, we want to cherish these people," said President Donald Trump on Wednesday, adding that Mr. Musk is "one of our great geniuses, and we must protect our genius ".

Besides Tesla, Elon Musk is also the boss of SpaceX, the first company to reuse the first stages of its rockets (Falcon 9), which return to land vertically after launch instead of ending up in the ocean.

© 2020 AFP