Elon Musk has now accomplished a first of his own by becoming the first person in history to have their net worth reduced by $200 billion. Elon Musk, who passed that milestone in January 2021, months after Jeff Bezos, became the second person in history to amass a personal fortune of more than $200 billion. The CEO of Tesla Inc. has now made history by becoming the first person ever to have their net worth reduced by $200 billion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk, 51, has seen his wealth drop to $137 billion as a result of the recent decline in Tesla stock, which included an 11% decline on Tuesday. His wealth peaked on November 4, 2021, at $340 billion, and he held the title of world’s richest man until Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon who founded LVMH, passed him this month.
The milestone in round numbers shows just how far Musk rose during the run-up in asset prices during the easy-money pandemic era. Even though Tesla’s electric vehicles made up a tiny portion of the overall auto market, the company’s market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in October 2021, joining the ranks of well-known technology giants Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., and Google parent Alphabet Inc.
As rivals catch up, Tesla’s leadership in electric vehicles, which served as the basis for its high valuation, is now in jeopardy. In addition to reportedly reducing production at its Shanghai plant, it is reportedly giving US customers a rare $7,500 discount to take delivery of its two highest-volume models before the end of the year.
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Musk has been preoccupied with Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion in late October, in the meantime as pressure on Tesla grows. In order to justify blocking the accounts of some well-known journalists who cover him, he has adopted a “move fast and break things” strategy that includes firing employees and then asking them to return. He has also applied content policies carelessly.
According to Bloomberg’s wealth index, Musk’s biggest asset is no longer Tesla shares because of the company’s steep decline since they fell 65% in 2022 and the amount Musk sold this year to help pay for his purchase of Twitter. Musk still has options worth an estimated $27.8 billion, so his stake in his closely held Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is worth $44.8 billion, which is more than his roughly $44 billion position in Tesla stock. According to a recent filing, Musk now owns 42.2% of SpaceX.
For his part, Musk has downplayed Tesla-related concerns and frequently criticised the Federal Reserve on Twitter for raising interest rates at the fastest rate in a generation. Tesla is operating more effectively than ever! On December 16, Musk tweeted. “The Federal Reserve is not under our control. The actual issue at hand is that.”
The billionaire, who has previously taken out large loans against his ownership stake in Tesla, has recently cautioned against the risks of borrowing money during volatile markets.
Musk said in the All-In podcast, which was released this month, “I would really advise people not to have margin debt in a volatile stock market and you know, from a cash standpoint, keep powder dry.” In a down market, “you can have some pretty extreme things happen.”
