Charisa Bossinakis
If you’re having a bad day, spare a thought for Elon Musk who’s net worth just plummeted by almost USD $13 billion (AUD $17 billion) in the past 24 hours.
Ah, here lies the world’s tiniest violin.
While we're not even halfway through the year and the Tesla founder’s empire has crumbled ever so slightly.
Much to investors' disappointment, Tesla’s first quarter results were underwhelming, to say the least.
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According to Bloomberg, the electric car company’s shares were down 9.75 per cent on Thursday to USD $242.36 (AUD $162.99).
And, just to throw it into the mix, an experimental Starship rocket designed by SpaceX exploded about four minutes after takeoff in the Gulf of Mexico.
At the same time, as Musk promised weeks ago, many Twitter users lost their blue checkmarks for opting not to pay USD $8 (AUD $11) per month.
As a result, Musk’s net worth dropped by $12.6 billion (AUD $18.73 billion), his biggest decline this year.
It comes weeks after Forbes reported the SpaceX CEO founder as the second hardest-hit billionaire of the year, falling just behind Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The outlet reported that his net worth’s plunged by USD $39 billion (AUD $58 billion); however, as he’s lost another $13 billion, he’s coming for Bezos’ number one slot.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index reported that the Tesla CEO lost around USD $100 billion (AUD $151.4 billion) from his net worth in 2022, primarily attributed to Tesla’s downfall.
The company faced economic hardship due to China's severe lockdown restrictions, Tesla’s biggest market outside the US.
Additionally, over 350,000 Tesla vehicles had been recalled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because of concerns about their self-driving-assistance software.
Around 29,348 Model X vehicles were reported to have faulty airbags, while more than 300,000 vehicles had a tail light problem.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said there were at least two accounts of the steering wheel detaching on Tesla's Model Y vehicles.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that fillings indicate that due to Musk purchasing Twitter in October, he took on USD $13 billion (AUD $19.5 billion) in debt.
And, because of hefty bills, Musk and his financial advisers are cutting costs left, right and center at his new company, which led to mass firings.
Most recently, in a bizarre interview with the BBC, Musk said that despite the series of layoffs at the social media giant being ‘painful’, he claims Twitter would have ‘died’ if he didn't act swiftly.
“This is not a caring [or] uncaring situation. It’s like, if the whole ship sinks, then nobody’s got a job,” he added.