According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk is the second-richest man in the world behind LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is worth $137 billion.
But in November 2021, Musk’s net worth was $340 billion, making him the first person ever to lose $200 billion in wealth, according to Bloomberg. Most of Musk’s wealth is tied to Tesla, which saw a 65 percent drop in stock value last year. As competition in the electric vehicle market surged, demand for Teslas weakened last year, with the company missing its growth targets and scaling back production in China.
Elon Musk Becomes First Person Ever to Lose $200 Billion – Bloomberg
Telsa’s 4thquarter deliveries failed to meet Wall Street’s estimates. Last month’s rare sale to clear out inventory was viewed as evidence that car buyers’ interest in Tesla is waning. The company offered two rebates for buyers taking delivery on a Tesla before the end of 2022, initially offering a discount of $3,750 and then doubling the rebate to $7,500 in the final two weeks of the year.
The rebates rattled investors, sending Tesla’s stock plunging 37 percent last month. The electric vehicle company’s critics have long questioned whether it was ever worth the trillion-dollar valuation that Tesla had at the start of last year. At its peak, the company was worth more than the world’s 12 largest automakers combined, despite having only a fraction of their sales.
Tesla ended the year worth $386 billion, making it much larger than its automaker competitors but much smaller than tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon–the companies Tesla was being compared to a year ago.
Elon Musk’s net worth was also dinged by his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Tesla’s largest shareholder, Musk sold $23 billion worth of Tesla shares since he first offered to purchase the social media platform in April.
Musk’s decision to temporarily take over as CEO of Twitter angered some Tesla investors who want Musk to focus his attention on his larger, more valuable car company. However, Musk maintains that since taking over Twitter, he has not missed a single major Tesla meeting.
