Elon Musk becomes the first person in history to lose $200 billion
Elon Musk has become the first person ever to lost $200 billion, in what has been dubbed ‘biggest loss of wealth in modern history’.
The Tesla boss has seen his net worth plummet in recent months, and no longer hold the title of richest man alive, which now belongs to LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk was previously worth $338billion (£280bn), but is now worth $137 billion after more than $200 billion was wiped off his net worth.
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It was also reported that the investor had lost around $310.8 million (£173.7m) from his net worth every day this year.
His fall in wealth is mainly down to the drop in Tesla stock - with the company’s shares falling almost 70 percent last year.
However, despite the slump in share prices, Musk has made it clear he still backs Tesla.
In email sent to Tesla staff, he told his employees: "Btw, don't be too bothered by stock market craziness. As we demonstrate continued excellent performance, the market will recognise that.
"Long-term, I believe very much that Tesla will be the most valuable company on Earth!"
In October, Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion - and took on a hefty amount of debt in the process.
The Wall Street Journal reported that fillings revealed the CEO took on $13 billion (£10.9b) in debt - and because of Twitter’s soaring bills, he’s had to make cuts since taking over.
According to The New York Times, Musk eliminated nearly half of Twitter's workforce within a week of closing that deal, which equalled around 3,700 jobs.
Last month, he ran a poll asking his 124 million followers if he should step down as Twitter CEO.
Sharing the poll, Musk said: "I will abide by the results of this poll."
The final results came in as 57.5 percent in favour of Musk quitting, compared to 42.5 percent against it.
Following the result, Musk cryptically tweeted: "As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it."
But for the time being, he remains as CEO but has said he will step down when he finds a suitable replacement.
In a tweet, he explained: “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job. After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”
Musk has previously stressed the difficulty in finding a new CEO, writing: “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.”
Claire Reid