Elon Musk has broken the Guinness World Record for the greatest loss of personal fortune in history.
According to Forbes, he has lost almost $182 billion (£153 billion; €173 billion) since November 2021; however, some sources contend that it may have been closer to $200 billion.
Musk’s cumulative losses greatly exceed the previous record of $58.6 billion, established by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son in 2000, despite it being nearly impossible to determine the actual amount.
Forbes reports that Musk’s net worth decreased significantly as a result of Tesla’s stock’s dismal performance, from $320 billion at its peak in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 2023.
“Long-term fundamentals are extremely strong. Short-term market madness is unpredictable,” Musk tweeted after the market closed for the year on 30 December 2022.
Musk due to those developments lost the title of world’s richest person to Bernard Arnault, a Frenchman and the founder of the luxury goods giant LVMH (Louis Vuitton Mot Hennessy), who is thought to be worth an estimated $190 billion (£156 billion; €177 billion).
Elon Musk’s wealth is mostly based on Tesla stock, the value of which fell by 65% in 2022.
This worrying trend increased in October when Musk paid almost $44 billion (£37 billion; €42 billion) to acquire Twitter.
The turbulent takeover and Musk’s divisive online behavior led to the greatest Tesla stock sell-off since the business went public in 2010.
Despite the decline in affluence, Tesla continues to be the most valuable automobile manufacturer in the world, with a market worth more than $100 billion higher than that of Toyota, their nearest rival.