Elon Musk once again becomes the richest person in the world

After a brief drop to the number two position last year, Elon Musk has reclaimed the top spot on Bloomberg's list of the richest billionaires around the world. Musk's net worth stood at $187 billion at the time of writing this.

2022 was rather a forgettable year for Musk, who made the Guinness record for the biggest wealth loss after the stock price of his electric vehicle (EV) making company, Tesla, tanked. Musk, who also acquired the social media platform Twitter after a brief legal wrangle, had no one else but himself to blame since investors viewed the Twitter buy as a distraction. Tesa shared dipped by as much as 65 percent last year, and so did Musk's net worth.

Musk climbs atop world's richest list again

As 2023 has progressed, Musk seems to be getting into the grove with issues at Twitter, and having fired more than half the staff and shut down many offices, he seems to be happy with the way the social media platform is heading.

After much back and forth, the paid premium subscription service, Twitter Blue, was launched last year, and it seems to be doing pretty well since Meta plans to replicate it on its platform as well.

As the din at Twitter seems to be quieting down, investors are being drawn back to Tesla stock, which began the year at $108 but closed at $207 after yesterday's trading. During this time, Musk has added $50 billion to his personal worth, as per Bloomberg's estimates, and regained the top spot on the Billionaire's List.

Musk displaced Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the French multinational holding company, LVMH, which has some of the world's top luxury and fashion brands as its subsidiaries. Musk, who has an estimated $2 billion lead over Arnault at the moment, would be keen to extend it over the coming days.

The Tesla stock could rally further on a civil trial ruling that clears Musk of any liability over a 2018 tweet that claimed that he was taking the EV maker private. Musk seems to be in a better mood these days, returning to posting memes and not just work updates.

pic.twitter.com/IDVrLebj20

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2023

His acquisition of Twitter and the subsequent stoppage of paying rent for its offices, however, still keep Musk mired in more lawsuits. But the man must be delighted that Twitter isn't going bankrupt anytime soon, and his risks could finally bear fruit.

The rise of Tesla stock price is also in sync with other tech stocks that had dwindled last year. Tech company founders and investors such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Bill Gates have also added a few billion to their net worth since January as stock prices have seen some revival in the market.