Elon Musk Becomes First Person To Lose $200 Billion Fortune

Elon Musk Becomes First Person To Lose $200 Billion Fortune

News by Anja Paspalj
Published: January 02, 2023

It has been a rough beginning of 2023 for Elon Musk as he officially becomes the first person in history to lose $200 billion.

Soon after becoming the second person to amass a fortune of $340 billion, even pushing Jeff Bezos down the ladder of richest people in the world, the Tesla and Twitter CEO has seen his wealth plummet over the past weeks.

Currently estimated at $137 billion, his financial decline is largely attributed to a steep decrease in Tesla’s shares value. According to Bloomberg, the value dropped by an enormous 65% in 2022. The $44 billion purchase of Twitter undoubtedly contributed, as have the ongoing controversies surrounding his leadership decisions.

Meanwhile, Tesla investors raised concerns after Musk took over Twitter. Investors say that the CEO’s involvement with the social media platform is “detrimental” to Tesla’s stock price.

Two months after sealing a $44 million deal with Twitter, Musk announced that he would step down as CEO once he finds someone ‘foolish enough’ to take the job.

Debates about free speech on the social media platform, the treatment of employees and the growing number of resignations have also seen Tesla investors alarmed about its reputation and the future of the electric vehicle company under Musk’s guidance as CEO.

Tesla once being the most dominant brand in the electric vehicle market, competitors the likes of Chevrolet and Ford are now catching up. Fear of a recession in the US has also placed the prices of Tesla automobiles under question.

For the first time, Tesla offers American buyers a surprising $7,500 discount on select models. The company has also reportedly begun reducing production at its Shanghai facility.

Despite all this, the Tesla CEO claims that the company has never been better. “Tesla is executing better than ever! We don’t control the Federal Reserve. That is the real problem here,” he tweeted on December 16.

Musk continues to focus on Twitter which has found itself in a never-ending string of problems, the latest of which is the firing of janitors at the company, leaving staff to bring their toilet paper to work.

Elon Musk is no longer the wealthiest person in the world and is now surpassed by business fashion mogul, Bernard Arnault.

Subscribe to Spotlight Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest industry news