- Tesla shares have fallen 62% from their peak as investors brace for slower growth.
- The fall in stocks fueled an estimated $160 billion drop in Elon Musk’s net worth.
- The Tesla CEO is now worth around $178 billion, up from $340 billion in November 2021.
Tesla’s growing problems have dealt a major blow to Elon Musk’s net worth.
In November 2021, the Tesla CEO occupied first place in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and seemed untouchable with a fortune estimated at $340 billion. He was then more than three times richer than Warren Buffett.
However, Elon Musk’s net worth has fallen by about $160 billion since then, reaching $178 billion as of Tuesday’s close. The main driver was Tesla stock, which fell from a 2021 high of $415 to $157, a decline of 62%.
The falling stock price reduced Tesla’s market capitalization from $1.2 trillion to less than $500 billion. Musk’s net worth was hit hard by the drop, as his 13% stake in the automaker represents a large portion of his wealth.
Musk’s start to the year has also been dismal compared to his peers in the 12-figure club. He topped Bloomberg’s rich list with a fortune of $229 billion in January, but his net worth has collapsed by $51 billion, or 22 percent, since then.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO now occupies third place in the wealth rankings, behind LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is also poised to overtake him.
Additionally, Musk is the only one of the world’s 11 richest people whose net worth has declined this year. He lost more money on paper than anyone on the list, including Zuckerberg who made almost $50 billion.
Tesla shares have fallen in recent months amid growing concerns about the company. Musk told employees over the weekend that more than 10% of the company’s global workforce would be laid off, indicating that demand for electric vehicles is weakening.
The automaker delivered fewer cars than expected to customers last quarter and made price cuts that threaten to erode its profit margins.
Additionally, Musk is fending off fierce competition from Chinese rivals like Buffett-backed BYD and has repeatedly highlighted the painful impact of rising interest rates on customer demand.
Musk’s fortune isn’t entirely tied to Tesla. He also has an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX, the space exploration company valued at $180 billion in December, and a roughly 79% stake in X after acquiring Twitter in 2022 and renaming it the last year.
businessinsider
