Elon Musk has become the first person ever to lose $200 billion from his net worth. The 51-year-old’s fortune peaked at $340 billion in November 2021 and he remained the world’s richest person until Bernard Arnault overtook him earlier this month. His net worth now stands at $137 billion. His fortune declined as Tesla shares plummeted this year.
Musk-owned electric auto Tesla’s shares dropped over 11% from its value in the previous closing. In fact, he was the second person in the history to amass the $200 billion mark after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Musk achieved this milestone in 2021 owing to the dramatic surge in the value of Tesla shares.
Now, Bernard Arnault, the owner of LVMH is the richest person in the world after overtaking Elon Musk early this month.
What led to the fall of Tesla shares’ value?
Elon Musk bought popular microblogging site Twitter in 2022 this year at a whopping cost $44 billion. The Twitter saga stretched throughout the year with Elon Musk having ifs and buts since he proposed the deal early on. Finally, he concluded the deal October-end after facing legal pressure.
In it now held that Tesla shareholders lost trust in Musk as they believed he would be distracted from the company due to the Twitter acquisition.
Added, reports of navigational flaws in Tesla’s design contributed to its plummeting sales.
