Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos' combined net worth surpassed $500 billion on Wednesday, thanks to a relentless rise in Tesla Inc. shares and a wide surge in tech equities that propelled the Nasdaq 100 to an intraday high. The combined size of the two fortunes — more than Johnson & Johnson's market value and roughly comparable to JPMorgan Chase & Co., America's largest bank — is yet another watershed moment in what is shaping out to be a historic week for billionaires. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden's historic plan to tax billionaires on unrealized gains was presented in detail Wednesday morning, only to be rejected in discussions hours later.
The billionaires' tax idea isn't dead, according to Wyden, but discussions have shifted to a hypothetical 3% surcharge for people earning more than $10 million, on top of the highest income tax rate.
