From briefly being the richest person on Earth in 2021, Elon Musk has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest loss in personal wealth in 2023.
According to data, the Tesla CEO suffered a startling $200 billion decline in wealth throughout 2022. On the contrary, Forbes placed his losses at $183 billion. Along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk is the second person in the world to have amassed over $200 billion. However, Musk is the only individual whose net wealth has decreased by the same magnitude. Before Musk, Masayoshi Son, the founder of Softbank, held the previous record. However, Son’s decline was far smaller at $58.6 billion.
How did Elon Musk lose $200 billion?
On November 4, 2021, Musk reached his peak fortune of $340 billion, making him the richest person in the world at that time. The feat lasted until LVMH founder Bernard Arnault overtook him.
Musk’s declining net worth was primarily caused by declining Tesla stock. However, the 2022 cryptocurrency meltdown also contributed to Musk’s loss. The decline in cryptocurrency valuation is responsible for 0.088% of the tech CEO’s losses. Although 0.088% may seem little, the losses amassed up to $176 million.
Surprisingly, Bitcoin’s (BTC) performance has been correlated with Tesla shares. By the middle of December, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped by around 60%, while the price of Tesla shares declined by around 58%.
Tesla’s declining value is due to several factors, some of which are more significant than others. The only company with more Bitcoins than the electric car maker is Microstrategy, which has 132,500 BTC as of December 2022.
Tesla purchased 43,200 BTC in February 2021. In April, a few months later, it sold 10% of its Bitcoin (BTC). Additionally, during the second quarter of 2022, the company sold an additional 75% of the initial cryptocurrency.