Tesla's sinking stock price pushes Elon Musk to #2 on the world's richest list
%2Favatars%2FUy0OTzksC7lW.jpg&w=96&q=75)
%2F2022%2F12%2F14%2Fimage%2Fjpeg%2F6xRh4KcUrmpdG4AMvjF72xklvolq6uGOUgXI4MkW.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Since September last year, Elon Musk has been regarded as the world's richest person. The stock price of the electric vehicle-making company Tesla has been the sole reason behind his dramatic rise to the top. With Tesla stock dropping 50 percent value since the beginning of the year, Musk has now dropped to number two on the list of the world's richest people, Bloomberg reported.
2021 was a terrific year for Tesla and Musk, with the stock price reaching an all-time high of $407.36 in November, and Musk was worth $340 billion. Exactly a year ago, Musk was also named by TIME as the Person of the Year. However, as 2022 dawned, Musk's fortunes began to dwindle, and Tesla stock began receding in value.
In April, Musk announced his decision to buy out Twitter and take the social media company private to unlock its true potential. The timing of his offer could not be worse as the U.S. Federal Bank began tightening its fiscal policy to rein in inflation. Within days, Musk's $44 billion offer seemed a price too high to pay, as the stock prices of tech companies began shrinking with higher interest rates.
Musk's Twitter dream haunts Tesla
Even with billions at his disposal, Musk looked for ways to wiggle out of his initial offer for Twitter, but the lawyers of the social media company ensured that Musk paid exactly what he had promised and not a cent less for the company.
Musk had to offload his Tesla stock to partly finance his buyout of Twitter, but investor confidence was hurt as Musk became CEO of five companies, after firing the Twitter board, soon after his acquisition.
Every single day Musk spends improving Twitter, Wall Street punishes Tesla stock, which has now dropped over 50 percent in valuation in 2022 alone. Musk, who owns 14 percent of the stock in Tesla, has seen his personal fortune erode more than $100 billion this year, and it stands at $164 billion at the time of writing this.
The man who has replaced Musk at the top spot is Bernard Arnault.
Who is Bernard Arnault?
73-year-old Bernard Arnault is the first person from France and even Europe as a whole to occupy the top of the chart when it comes to the world's richest people. An engineer by education, Arnault worked in industrial construction in the country before moving to the U.S. in 1981 and working in property development, a Bloomberg report said.
Three years later, he moved back to France and stepped into the luxury goods market when he took over Boussac Saint-Freres, a textile group that had gone bankrupt but owned Christian Dior. Later, he spun off the company's other businesses to buy a controlling stake in LVMH, a merger of famous brands Loius Vuitton and Moet Hennessy.
LVMH has made its fortune selling luxury goods ranging from Champagne, wines, spirits, perfumes, hotel stays, cosmetics, leather goods, and much more. Currently, LVMH has over 5,500 stores all over the globe and appears unaffected by the incoming recession, even as tech stocks have been sinking.
Arnault, who has remained in the top ten of Bloomberg's Billionaire List for a while now, maintains a low profile and, unlike Musk, isn't even on Twitter. Recently, LVMH sold off its private jet and started renting out planes to avoid being spotted by automated accounts on social media sites.
SHOW COMMENT (1)
/2022/08/15/image/jpeg/otndAH8z9m0mADm6BqZT4wfKTG4q4j3g2n9R3pkY.jpg "Want to protect your brain from aging? Learn another language")
/2023/05/26/image/jpeg/1JXrkwK7efWVsmu4aRFf4fdD1Ptufo7ZAU7UMPLd.jpg "US Carrier Strike Group can be countered with 24 hypersonic missiles, China claim")
/2023/06/03/image/jpeg/MwGIp61b2PM577qboU4pfCmoiPEju8IbV9fCHbx8.jpg "Hawking was right: All large objects will eventually evaporate")
/2023/05/28/image/jpeg/X1sB2puBpxN1VWCWMDkaa7Uwd2FUAdOP6AxTp8T8.jpg "NGAD: The chosen one - US Air Force commits to sole 6th-generation fighter")
/2022/10/02/image/png/5G9tgdaZppFaVjOb5vDOxPsR6tovvrnqLLVNMX5w.png "This portable machine attaches to tractors and turns harmful crop waste into sellable bioproducts")
/2023/05/26/image/jpeg/smTFO3AG7ESAzCi8L0kVnrUEHbVmcjiZ2KhVW0QE.jpg "Potential cure for diabetes found in groundbreaking stem cell study")
/img/iea/yrwQlQ1b6N/neuron-cells.jpg "Revolutionizing treatment of neurodegenerative diseases - One patient at a time")
/2023/05/25/image/jpeg/xbqtdlTTlQ6wFUubr9etkXJZVi8dBYvahuUEjCzI.jpg "This architecture firm is introducing inflatable skyscrapers")
/2023/05/17/image/jpeg/1reHwvxDY6DMApUSViyGaPQpBIOPQ0X83OcETU8g.jpg "Laser tech cracks code of 'Rosetta Stone' fossils, yielding fresh early life clues")
/2022/08/16/image/jpeg/BCFLf1XDS4zvfH8XmNyXKvYXJkuSbNluD5SRVNNA.jpg "Dark Futures: Could World War III Still Happen?")