New York () — Elon Musk’s destruction of wealth marked a milestone.
The CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter now has an estimated fortune of $137 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, enough to rank second on the list of the world’s richest behind LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault. But at his peak, in November 2021, Musk’s net worth stood at $340 billion.
That makes Musk the first person to lose $200 billion in wealth, as reported by Bloomberg In the past week.
Most of Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla, whose shares plunged 65% in 2022. Demand for Tesla weakened as competition in electric vehicles from established automakers increased last year. The company missed its growth targets and reduced production in China.
Buyers’ disinterest in Teslas was on full display last month when the company announced a one-off stock clearance sale. Tesla offered two rebates to buyers who purchased a vehicle before the end of the year, initially discounting $3,750 and then doubling the rebate to $7,500 within two weeks of the end of 2022.
Investors fretted over the downgrades, with shares plunging 37% in December.
Critics have long wondered if Tesla was ever worth the trillion dollars it was worth at the start of 2022. At its peak, Tesla was worth more than the 12 largest automakers on the planet combined, despite having a fraction of their sales. . Tesla closed the year with a value of $386 billion, still much higher than that of its auto rivals, but far less than that of the tech titans Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon, with which it was compared a year ago.
Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter hasn’t helped Tesla stock or Musk’s personal wealth either. Musk, Tesla’s largest shareholder, has sold $23 billion worth of Tesla stock since the interest in him on Twitter became public in April.
His constant tweeting and increasingly erratic behavior, especially after taking over as CEO of Twitter, have angered Tesla investors, who want Musk to pay more attention to their significantly larger and more valuable company. Musk has defended himself against criticism by saying he hasn’t missed any major Tesla meetings since he took over Twitter.
Tesla shares may rebound, and Musk could once again become the richest person in the world. But Musk’s reputation as a genius took serious damage in 2022, almost as much as his personal wealth.
