Elon Musk's fortune plunged by $16 billion in a single day - but he could lose a lot more and still be the richest person in the world
- Tesla stock tumbled 9% on Thursday after the EV maker reported disappointing third-quarter earnings.
- The share-price decline meant Elon Musk's net worth fell by $16 billion in a single day.
Tesla's stock price tumbled 9% on Thursday after the EV maker reported third-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street's expectations, and CEO Elon Musk hosted an earnings call that one Wall Street analyst dubbed a "mini disaster."
As a result, Musk — whose 13% stake in Tesla accounts for the lion's share of his personal wealth — saw his fortune slump by over $16 billion on Thursday, according to the Bloomberg's Billionaire Index. Even so, Musk remains the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $210 billion.
He's still about $55 billion ahead of the second-richest person on the list — Bernard Arnault, the head of luxury giant LVMH, who has been nicknamed the "wolf in cashmere" because of his ruthless business moves. In other words, Musk could have three bad days like Thursday and still retain his top spot in the wealth rankings.
Arnault has overtaken Musk in the past to secure the title of world's richest person. As of Thursday's close, he had an estimated worth of $155 billion, per Bloomberg.
The luxury-goods tycoon briefly lost the "world's second-richest person" title to Jeff Bezos this week, but has inched back up to the number-two spot. Amazon founder Bezos is a close third, with a net worth of $152 billion, per Bloomberg's estimates.
Despite Thursday's slide, Musk's wealth has grown by about $70 billion this year, largely thanks to an upswing in Tesla stock as investors have piled into mega-cap Big Tech stocks.
On Wednesday, Tesla reported third-quarter revenues of $23.35 billion, missing Wall Street expectations of $24.06 billion. The automaker posted adjusted earnings-per-share of $0.66, also missing the consensus estimate of $0.74.