Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris (Getty Images)
The Guinness Book of World Records announced that Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk broke the world record for the person who lost the greatest amount of personal wealth in history. The billionaire has reportedly lost a total of $182 billion since November 2021. Part of the loss has been attributed to the $44 billion deal made to buy social media platform Twitter last October.
The Guinness Book of World Records said in a press release that the exact amount of Musk’s lost fortune was “impossible to ascertain,” but it can confirm that he far surpassed the previous record of $58.6 billion lost. According to the people of Guinness World Records, Musk broke the record for the “largest loss of personal wealth in history.” That record was previously set in 2000 by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son, who lost his personal fortune due to bad investments in the dot-com boom.
Musk suffered a big loss, in part because his wealth was tied up in Tesla’s shares, which quickly plummeted 65% over the past year, according to the Guinness World Records report. Before taking over Twitter, Musk sold his Tesla stock, worth nearly $7 billion, as demand for Musk’s Tesla conglomerate has abruptly dropped as competition from electric vehicles has surged in popularity over the past year.
Forbes reported that Musk’s net worth was $146.4 billion as of January 2023, down from a whopping $320 billion in 2021.
However, evidence of Tesla’s dwindling popularity came to light last month when the company announced it was conducting a rare sale to clear its inventory. The company offered two rebates to buyers who would purchase and receive a vehicle before the end of 2022. Shoppers were initially offered a $3,750 rebate with a double rebate of $7,500 in the last two weeks of the year.
G/O Media may receive a commission
Up to $100 credit
Samsung backup
Reserve the next generation Samsung device
All you have to do is sign up with your email address and boom: credit your pre-order on a new Samsung device.
Despite the drastic decline in his personal wealth, Musk still remains the second richest person in the world, right behind LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault.
As we headed into the new year, Musk responded to Tesla owners in Silicon Valley that wrote on Twitter: “I’ve seen so many people within the community geek over the past few weeks and yet @elonmusk has continued to reaffirm his commitment to @tesla. The Tesla team is killing it and pushing hard to finish the quarter well during these recession headwinds.”
musk tweeted on December 30: “The long-term fundamentals are extremely strong. Short-term market madness is unpredictable.”