Tesla boss, Elon Musk, has become the first person in history to lose $200 billion from his net worth.
Musk, was the second person ever to amass a personal fortune of more than $200 billion, breaching that threshold in January 2021, months after Jeff Bezos.
Bloomberg reported that the 51-year-old has seen his wealth plummet to $137 billion after Tesla shares tumbled in recent weeks, including an 11% drop on Tuesday.
His fortune peaked at $340 billion on November 4, 2021, and he remained the world’s richest person until he was overtaken I’m December by Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon behind luxury-goods powerhouse LVMH.
Tesla exceeded a $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time in October 2021, joining the likes of ubiquitous technology companies Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., even though its electric vehicles represented only a sliver of the overall auto market.
Bloomberg’s wealth index also reveals the decline in Tesla shares has been so steep, it fell 65% in 2022 and Musk has sold so much this year to help cover his Twitter purchase, that they’re no longer his biggest asset.
Musk’s stake in his closely held Space Exploration Technologies Corp., at $44.8 billion, exceeds his approximately $44 billion position in Tesla stock (he still has options worth an estimated $27.8 billion). Musk now owns 42.2% of SpaceX, according to a recent filing.
Musk, for his part, has dismissed concerns about Tesla and has repeatedly taken to Twitter to criticize the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates at the fastest pace in a generation.
Musk tweeted in December, “Tesla is executing better than ever!”
“We don’t control the Federal Reserve. That is the real problem here.”
Also in December 2022, Musk said in the All-In podcast released, that, “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,”
“You can get some pretty extreme things happening in a down market.”
