Niamh Shackleton
Elon Musk may soon no longer by the 'world's richest man'.
As of last month, the multibillionaire is thought to have had a net worth of around $232 billion, but his huge wealth has recently taken a dramatic hit.
Musk, the brains behind Tesla and SpaceX, has been making profits from his high-tech electric cars since 2013 but, for the first time in a decade, the car manufacturer hasn't hit its revenue targets.
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As a result, Musk's huge fortune has taken a hit.
On Thursday (19 October), Tesla released its 2023 third-quarter earnings report, and its underwhelming to say the least.
Musk has a 13 percent stake in Tesla, therefore if the company does well, so does he.
But if the company doesn't do well... then he doesn't either.
The report found that quarterly sales had dropped to 435,059 vehicles, despite the fact Musk has drastically dropped the prices of the cars.
Since the report was released earlier this week, Tesla stock prices have also dropped by 9.3 percent.
According to Forbes, the tech mogul's net worth still stands at a hefty $225.2 billion which means he keeps the title of 'world's richest man' - for now. Bernard Arnault & family comes in at second with $174 billion while Jeff Bezos is in third with $148 billion.
This is the second hit Musk has taken this year, as Tesla stocks dropped by 9.7 percent back in July, meaning Musk took a $20 billion hit.
Despite the not-so-optimistic outlook for Tesla's year-on-year results, Musk has high hopes for his new car, the Cybertruck.
The 52-year-old believes the firm will have almost two million customers in the its vehicles by the end the year - some of whom will own Tesla's new, futuristic-looking trucks.
The first deliveries for the Cybertruck will begin in late November.
As per Tesla's website, its newest vehicle 'is built with an exterior shell made for ultimate durability and passenger protection'.
The site further explains: "Starting with a nearly impenetrable exoskeleton, every component is designed for superior strength and endurance, from Ultra-Hard 30X Cold-Rolled stainless-steel structural skin to Tesla armor glass."
But, with his high spec in mind, Musk has admitted that the Cybertrucks can be difficult to make.
He reportedly told investors on a call to discuss the company's third-quarter earnings that 'there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck and in making the Cybertruck cash-flow positive', as per Motortrend.
A million people have already reserved the trucks, but Tesla's Texas factory can only build 125,000 of them a year.
Despite this, Musk still insists that the Cybertruck is the carmaker's 'best product ever'.
I guess only time will tell...