Billionaire Elon Musk, formerly the richest man in the world, has broken a new record.
The Tesla founder and Twitter owner has become the first person in history to lose $200 billion of his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index.
The multi-billion dollar bloodbath comes after Musk, 51, became only the second person in 2021, after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to ever amass a fortune exceeding $200 billion.
Musk, whose net worth peaked at $340 billion in November 2021, has seen his net worth plummet to $137 million as Tesla shares plunged 65% over the past year.
It was the electric car maker’s worst year to date.
The decline included an 11% slump on Tuesday alone, after The Wall Street Journal reported that a spike in COVID cases had forced Tesla to temporarily halt production in Shanghai.
Musk lost his title as the world’s richest man earlier this month. AFP via Getty Images
In a memo sent to employees on Wednesday, the billionaire thanked workers for their “extraordinary execution” throughout the year, while downplaying the company’s dismal stock performance.
“Don’t worry too much about the stock market frenzy,” Musk said in the memo, obtained by CNBC.
“As we continue to excel, the market will recognize that.”
Musk was stripped of the title of world’s richest man earlier this month – the baton passed to Bernard Arnault, LVMH’s French chairman and CEO.
Tesla shares are down more than 65% this year, the company’s worst performance yet. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Musk’s historic losses show just how much Musk and Tesla have skyrocketed during the pandemic.
Despite owning only a small slice of the electric vehicle market, Tesla was valued at over $1 trillion as of October 2021 – joining other tech giants including Apple, Amazon and Google’s parent Alphabet, Bloomberg reported.
But with competition catching up quickly and challenging Tesla’s dominance of the electric vehicle market, Musk’s attention is focused on his newest venture as owner and CEO of social media giant Twitter.
According to Bloomberg’s wealth index, Musk has been forced to sell much of his Tesla stock this year as a result of his mammoth $44 billion purchase of Twitter.
Musk also currently owns a $44.8 billion stake in his Space Exploration Technologies Corp — about 42.2% of the company, according to a recent filing reviewed by the news agency.
Since his headline-grabbing Twitter acquisition, Musk has taken big steps to cut the social media company’s costs.
He has cut about 75% of the company’s 7,500 employees and is closing the company’s Seattle offices after reportedly refusing to pay rent.