The new richest person is Bernard Arnault, CEO of the luxury fashion conglomerate LVMH.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Musk’s net worth dropped to just under $168.5bn, below Arnault’s $172.9bn. Most of Musk’s wealth comes from his Tesla stock, which has fallen around 50% in the last year. In November, he sold off about $15bn of his Tesla shares to finance the purchase of Twitter. This is the latest in a string of setbacks for Musk, who was also booed at a Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco on Sunday night.
Elon Musk fall from the top spot on the Forbes list is due largely to the decline in value of Tesla’s stock. The electric car maker has faced increased competition from other automakers, including Ford, Kia, and Hyundai, who have been launching their own EVs and eating into Tesla’s sales. In addition, Musk’s struggles to control Twitter after purchasing the platform for $44bn earlier this year have also hit the value of Tesla’s stock.
Elon Musk woes at Twitter began when he announced that comedy was returning to the platform, before backtracking and banning impersonators. He then tried to charge for verification, only to realize that this plan was flawed as well. These missteps have gradually eroded Musk’s reputation as a good businessman.
Despite his recent setbacks, Musk remains one of the most successful and influential entrepreneurs of our time. In addition to heading Tesla and SpaceX, he is also the CEO of Neuralink and The Boring Company and has played a key role in the development of some of the most exciting technologies of the 21st century.
