Tesla CEO Elon Musk saw his fortune shrink by a mind-boggling $200 billion throughout 2022. Musk is the second person in the world to amass over $200 billion, along with Amazon boss Jezz Bezos. However, Musk is the only person to have lost $200 billion in net worth. Although falling Tesla shares were the primary reason for Musk’s shrinking net worth, crypto also played a small part.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk has seen his worth plunge to $137 billion after Tesla shares fell in recent weeks. Tesla shares also saw an 11% decline last Tuesday. Musk’s wealth peaked on November 4, 2021, at $340 billion, and he held the title of the world’s richest man until Bernard Arnault, founder of LVMH, passed him this month.
The crypto crash of 2022 also played a hand in Musk’s losses. The fall in crypto prices accounts for 0.088% of the losses incurred by the tech CEO. Although 0.088% seems minuscule, it represents $176 million in losses.
Surprisingly, the performance of Tesla stock mirrors that of Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin has decreased by around 60% as of mid-December, while Tesla stock has lost about 58% in the same time frame.
Tesla and Crypto
Tesla is one of the largest holders of Bitcoin (BTC), the original crypto. The fall in BTC prices is one reason for Tesla dwindling treasure, albeit smaller than other reasons. The electric car manufacturer has 9,720 BTCs and is second only to Microstrategy, which had 132,500 BTC as of December 2022.
In February 2021, Tesla bought 43,200 BTC. A few months later in April, it liquidated 10% of its entire Bitcoin holdings. In addition, the business sold another 75% of the original crypto during the second quarter of 2022.
At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $16,648.96, up by 0.7% in the last 24 hours.