THE Guinness Book of Records has tagged Elon Musk as the first human to lose $182 billion, after Tesla’s share plummeted in 2022, as investors’ confidence dropped towards the firm.
Last year, Tesla’s share depreciated by 65 per cent in value on the back of sell off, as investors’ confidence regarding the company’s growth prospects dropped after Musk began the process to acquire social media company, Twitter.
Investors are of the opinion that Twitter’s affair will make Musk lose attention in Tesla’s operation and splitting his focus will impact negatively on the electric carmaker’s production and earnings.
As the bears took hold of Tesla’s share, the sell off crashed Musk’s wealth from $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 2023.
Guinness stated that Musk’s loss is close to $200 billion according to some sources, and it was enough to make him the first human on earth to lose such a significant amount.
Musk took over from Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, who lost $58.6 billion in 2000. The Japanese tech investor’s wealth fell to $19.4 billion from $78 billion in February 2000.
Due to his loss, Musk also lost the top spot of the world’s richest person to the founder of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), Bernard Arnault. The French billionaire’s net worth hovers above $190 billion.
Prior to Musk losing $182 billion in one year, he became the first billionaire to cross the $300 billion mark in 2021. At the time, Tesla enjoyed high demand in the capital market, as investors looked for assets to hedge against inflation and the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.
Note that Musk had promised Tesla investors of finding a Chief Executive that would oversee Twitter’s operation so he can focus on the carmaker’s operation.
