New York USA_In just over one year, the world’s richest man slipped into second place and became the first person in the world to lose USD 200 billion in wealth in just one year. The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter Elon Musk’s net worth is down to just USD 137 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, having been USD 340 billion just over one year ago.
Reporting the historic loss, Bloomberg said, “Elon Musk’s wealth destruction has become historic.” Musk steps into second place behind the Chairman of the world’s largest luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE Bernard Arnault whose estimated net worth according to Forbes is USD 183 billion.
Tesla holds the bulk of Musk’s wealth, which hasn’t been having a good year as Tesla’s stocks plunged 65% in 2022. With competition in the electrical vehicle market surging last year, Tesla’s competitive edge in the EV market slipped drastically. It was forced to scale back production in China, missing its growth targets, with 4Q deliveries way below forecasts by Wall Street.
With interest waning in the Tesla EVs, the company promoted a rare sale to clear inventory, where Tesla offered rebates to buyers who took delivery of their vehicles before the end of the year. A never before availed discount of USD 3,750 was offered which was doubled with just two weeks left in 2022. These unusual rebate moves rocked the automobile market and jittery investors went bearish, sending Tesla stocks plunging 37% in December.
While Musk owns about 25% of Tesla in stocks and options, he has pledged more than half his stock as collateral. On the other hand, SpaceX which he founded in 2002 has held strong, quadrupling in value to USD 127 billion in three years. Musk also made a mark last year with one of the most controversial deals when he acquired Twitter, which was sold to him for USD 44 billion when he disclosed a 9.1% stake and threatened a hostile takeover. He now owns about 74% of Twitter.
