Claire Reid
Elon Musk has ‘tweeted himself out of the top spot’ on the world’s rich list - having previously held the title of richest man in the world.
The 51-year-old Twitter boss has seen $39 billion knocked off his net worth in a year, meaning he slides down into second place.
The current richest person in the world is 74-year-old Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault, CEO of LVMH - the world’s largest luxury goods company.
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LVMH owns numerous luxury brands, including Tiffany & Co, Christian Dior, Moët & Chandon, Bulgari and Louis Vuitton.
According to Forbes, ‘revenue, profit and LVMH shares all sit at record highs, helping add $53 billion to Arnault’s fortune over the past 12 months’. Alright for some, eh?
The annual rich list, claims the Frenchman is worth a whopping $211 billion, while Musk has a net worth of $180 billion.
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In the report, Forbes notes: “Musk has mostly tweeted himself out of the top spot on the ranks, with Tesla stock down nearly 50 percent since he announced his $44 billion takeover of Twitter last April.”
Tesla had its worst year on the stock market last year, and while it has made up for some of those losses this year, its current valuation is still lower than it was before Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion.
Meanwhile, just last month, the CEO claimed Twitter was worth less than half of what he paid for it.
The billionaire sent a company-wide email about employee stock grants last week, which was obtained by The New York Times.
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In that email, Musk revealed to staff that the company's value has plummeted significantly since going private.
He told his staff the social media app had seen a loss of roughly $20 billion, according to his own calculations.
Musk also said in the email that Twitter is four months away from running out of capital.
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But he remained optimistic, writing: "I see a clear, but difficult, path to a >$250B valuation."
He added that he now views Twitter as an 'inverse start-up'.
“Twitter is being reshaped rapidly,” Musk wrote.
The South African also claimed that the company was losing $4 million a day when he took the helm, prompting him to layoff around half of its staff.
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In a tweet back in February, Musk made light of any financial difficulties the company was facing - posting: "Say what you want about me but I acquired the world’s largest non-profit for $44B lol."