Elon Musk has lost more than $100 billion of his fortune in just one year, having previously become the first person in history to be worth $300bn.
With promises to colonise Mars, creating humanoid robots and advances in autonomous driving systems, among other successes, Elon Musk has managed to rake in huge levels of wealth as CEO of SpaceX and Tesla.
So much so, in fact, that last November he made history when his worth passed the $300bn mark - making him the first person ever to do so.
At the time, the increase in wealth was credited to Tesla’s rising stock price, surpassing many analysts’ predictions.
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But according to a new report from Forbes, his fortune has since plummeted by more than $100bn, saying ‘a lot has happened’ in the period between last autumn and the present day.
This includes the ongoing saga of his Twitter purchase – and his reported plans to lay off 75 percent of its staff if the sale eventually goes ahead – and, in his personal life, secret twins with an employee and unconfirmed rumours that he was having an affair with Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s ex-wife Nicole Shanahan, which Musk has denied.
Indeed, it’s been a busy year for the entrepreneur, not least because Forbes also reports he has also ‘lost more than $100 billion’.
The outlet explains that, from its peak on 4 November last year, Musk’s fortune has dropped by nearly 35 percent as of close of market on Thursday 20 October – or the equivalent of $320.3bn to $209.4bn.
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Journalist Rachel Sandler reports that this fall is ‘almost entirely due to a sharp drop in the price of Tesla stock’, adding: “This month alone, Musk’s fortune is down $28 billion.”
In quarterly earnings reported on Wednesday (19 October), Tesla’s revenue still fell short of some expectations, which, when added to worries of a potential recession, Sandler has left investors ‘spooked’.
Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., told Forbes: “He sells high-priced cars, so a recession will not be good for his business."
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As for that messy Twitter deal, Musk is now saying he plans to proceed with the full $44bn offer he made back in April, having previously attempted to seek better terms - claiming he had been misled about the social media platform's number of legitimate accounts.
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Jess Hardiman