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Just 13 short months ago, in early November 2021, Elon Musk had a $340 billion net worth and was ruling the world.
Elon was not only the richest man in modern history at the time, surpassing John D. Rockefeller’s century-old inflation-adjusted fortune, but also the first individual in modern history to have a net worth that exceeded $300 billion (without having to account for inflation).
Elon Musk nevertheless managed to conclude 2021 with a fortune of $270 billion, even though his net worth marginally decreased over the next two months. That was $80 billion more than Jeff Bezos’ $190 billion year-end net wealth.
The stock market hasn’t exactly had a stellar year, as you may have probably heard, in 2022. Elon Musk has experienced the greatest impact, by far.
Elon’s net worth has decreased from $270 billion to $170 billion as of today between January 1 and now. That is an exact $100 billion loss. Over the past year, no billionaire has lost more money. In addition, the year has a few more weeks left.
What caused Elon’s wealth to plummet so much? In a nutshell:
The price of Tesla is falling
The S&P 500 index has decreased by 17% year to date. No good. Tesla performs significantly worse, which is unfortunate. The stock price of Tesla is down 56% year to date.
Why has Tesla’s stock fallen so much? Some would refer to Elon’s purchase of Twitter, which required him to borrow money by selling billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares and pledging billions more of his remaining shares against the $13 billion in debt he took on to complete the deal.
Simple economics is another issue. Demand for Tesla’s pricey electric vehicles may be decreasing as a result of the economy’s decline at a time when other brands like Ford, Audi, and Volkswagen are ramping up their competitiveness.
Losing His Crown
Elon Musk remains the richest person on the planet as of this writing. However, he’s dangerously near to ceding the throne.
Elon Musk has a $170 billion net worth, which is currently just $3 billion more than Bernard Arnault’s $168 billion net worth.
Bernard earned his wealth from his position as CEO of the luxury conglomerate LVMH, which serves as owner of companies like Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennessy, Christian Dior, Sephora, Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., and Tag Heuer. Bernard’s net worth is down about $10 billion from where it was at the start of the year.
The stock of LVMH is down 8% year to date, but it has increased 25% during the past six months. Tesla has decreased 27% during the past six months.
Literally, anything may happen at any time in Elon’s financial sphere. He may tweet about some amazing Tesla accomplishment tomorrow, increasing his net value by $20 billion. or the inverse.
However, this is a rather unexpected turn of events that I doubt anyone could have foreseen a year ago. Can one ponder what might likely be his net worth will be in a year?
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