Tesla Inc’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk lost the world’s second-richest person rank to LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault, on May 17, after shares of Tesla fell by 2.2 percent.
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Musk had suffered a blow last week when technology stocks plummeted amid a global rout. Additionally, the sale of Tesla cars in China has plunged by 27 percent from March after reports of 'issues' in the electric car.
According to Bloomberg, Musk now has a fortune of $160.6 billion, down 24 percent from its January high. Notably, he held the top spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as recently as March.
The drop in his fortune comes in the wake of a slump in the price of cryptocurrencies. While the price of Bitcoin fell sharply after Musk slammed it for 'high use of fossil fuels' and backtracked from his announcement of accepting it for Tesla cars, the price of Dogecoin suffered a blow earlier this month after Musk ended up calling it a 'hustle' in his Saturday Night Live debut.
Elon Musk recently tweeted, "Working with Doge developers to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising." The tweet also led to a drop in the price of Dogecoin.
Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2021
Musk had become the world's richest man, replacing Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, just last year after the technology stocks recorded a whopping surge of almost 750 percent.
According to Bloomberg’s wealth index, Musk’s fortune has dropped about $9.1 billion this year, the highest drop among all the US-based billionaires.
On the other hand, Arnault's net worth shot up to $161.2 billion, an increase of almost $47, as sales of his luxury goods company witnessed an uptick in China and other Asian countries.