48 hours after he was crowned the world's richest person, Elon Musk loses top spot — again
- Elon Musk's net worth fell by about $2 billion to $184 billion on Thursday, per Bloomberg.
- He is now the world's second-richest person after LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault.
Just 48 hours after he reclaimed his crown as the world's richest person, Elon Musk has been dethroned — again.
He got bumped to No. 2 after his net worth fell by about $2 billion on Thursday to $184 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Musk — who is the CEO of Tesla — is now the world's second-richest person after Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, who has a fortune of $186 billion.
The role reversal happened just two days after Musk knocked Arnault off the top spot. The Frenchman had unseated Musk in December after Tesla's share price fell by 65% in 2022 due to various factors including a lackluster economy, a demand slowdown in China, Musk's messy Twitter acquisition which dampened investor sentiment, and a broad-based tech selloff.
Musk's slip from the top spot follows a drop in Tesla stock — shares closed 1.4% lower at $202.77 on Wednesday. They extended declines in after-hours trade to end 5.7% lower after Tesla's Investor Day in Austin, Texas on Wednesday. As Bloomberg derives much of Musk's net worth from his 13% stake in Tesla, a fall in share prices would hit his fortune.
Investor sentiment could've taken a hit as Tesla did not unveil a budget-friendly electric vehicle at Wednesday's event. There were market rumors before the event that Musk could announce a $25,000 car.
"It's no surprise that Tesla stock fell over 5% in the hours following Tesla's Investor Day, as it fell short for investors regarding details on any new Tesla products or services," Greg Bassuk, the CEO of asset management firm AXS Investments, wrote in a Wednesday note seen by Insider.
Bassuk added investors were underwhelmed as they were waiting for concrete details of Tesla's plans to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded and price-sensitive EV market — but that did not materialize.
Despite Wednesday's setback, Tesla stock is still up 65% so far this year as demand improved after aggressive price cuts and favorable tax credit changes in the US for electric vehicles.