Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as Tesla (TSLA) stock continues to plunge.
Musk moved to the second spot behind LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault as his net worth plummeted by $107 billion so far in 2022. Musk is now worth $164 billion, while Arnault is worth $171 billion, as of Dec. 14.
Behind Musk is Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani at $125 billion, followed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Founder Bill Gates both at $116 billion. Rounding out the top 10 are Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Oracle Co-Founder Larry Ellison, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani, and Google Co-Founder Larry Page.
Musk’s net worth is largely tied up in Tesla stock, meaning that what made him the world’s richest person — Tesla’s market capitalization booming in recent years — is also what knocked him out of the top spot as Tesla’s market cap fell from $1 trillion in October 2021 to around $500 billion as of Tuesday’s close.
Musk’s compensation package as Tesla chief executive’s totals $56 billion and enables him to buy 1% of the EV giant’s shares at a deep discount every time certain business targets are met.
Tesla’s very bad 2022
Tesla stock is off more than 50% year to date amid downside catalysts that include China’s zero-COVID policy, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, and increased competition in the EV space.
China implemented a zero-COVID policy, which meant strict lockdowns to prevent any further infections. However, that also meant shutting down Tesla’s gigafactory in Shanghai, which accounted for roughly 52% of the company’s global deliveries in 2021. (China is the largest auto market in the world.)
“You’re starting to see some demand cracks,” Wedbush Senior Analyst Dan Ives said about Tesla. “I don’t believe the longer term story in China is thrown out the window, I just think they’re navigating now some really, for the first time in years, some growth challenges, they’re cutting prices, … some supply chain reductions, and now, we got to see not just in…
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