Elon Musk loses world’s second-richest ranking as Tesla dips
Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder lost his spot as the world’s second-richest person to LVMH (Louis Vuitton) Chairman Bernard Arnault as Tesla Inc's shares fell 2.2 percent.
Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder lost his spot as the world’s second-richest person to LVMH (Louis Vuitton) Chairman Bernard Arnault as Tesla Inc's shares fell 2.2 percent. That was on top of last week’s slump amid a global rout in technology stocks and fresh signs of trouble in its China business.
Musk is now the third-richest man in the world, after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Bernard Arnault. Elon Musk's overall wealth now stands at $160.6 billion, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Elon Musk’s fortune has dropped about $9.1 billion this year, the most among US-based billionaires, as per Bloomberg’s wealth index. Interestingly, Arnault has added the most, with his net worth climbing by almost $47 billion to $161.2 billion as sales of his firm’s luxury goods surge in China and other parts of Asia.
Elon Musk
The drop comes after Elon Musk's tweet saying that Tesla is no longer accepting digital currency as payment, which had Bitcoin tumbling as much as 15 percent last week. Elon Musk had cited environmental issues for this decision. In a tweet, Elon Musk said Tesla would suspend the use of Bitcoin as this cryptocurrency was being mined through the use of a fossil fuel like coal, which has its own ramifications on the environment. Elon Musk did not discount the use of any other cryptocurrencies — including Bitcoin — but noted that they will look at environment assessment before taking any decision.
For a few months now, Musk has been turning heads with his increasing interest in cryptocurrency. The Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, also gained special interest from the SpaceX founder.
In March, Elon Musk made $25.1 billion in one day, setting a new record. This was facilitated by the 20 percent hike in Tesla Inc.'s share price. Earlier this year, in January, Elon Musk had surpassed Jeff Bezos. The tech billionaire added $160 billion to his fortune to become the world's richest person. Steady profits had lead to Tesla Inc.'s stock prices skyrocketing and surging 437 percent in the last 12-months.
Edited by Anju Narayanan