Elon Musk, formerly the richest man in the world, has become the first person in human history to lose $200 billion of his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
The 51-year-old Tesla chief executive officer became the second person to ever amass a fortune more than $200 billion in 2021, after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk has seen his wealth plunge in recent weeks after shares of his electric car company tumbled.
The billionaire, whose net worth peaked in Nov. 2021 at $340 billion, has seen his wealth drop to $137 million as Tesla shares have plummeted 65% in 2022.
The decline included an 11% plunge on Tuesday alone after a surge in COVID cases in China’s Shanghai had forced Tesla to temporarily halt production.
Musk, who has held the top spot on the Forbes list since September 2021, remained the world’s richest person until he was briefly overtaken last month by Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon behind luxury brand Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH.
Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in late October. It appears his obsession with the platform, among other factors cost dearly to Tesla investors, who witnessed the worst-ever performance of the stock during the year.
