Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who lost the status of the world’s billionaire entrepreneur last year after his net worth dwindled, has broken the world record for the ‘largest loss of personal fortune in history,” according to the Guinness World Record, the global organization that keeps track of record achievements. Musk has set a new Guinness World Record for losing around $180 billion since November 2021, it said.
Stating that wealth is an approximate figure, it noted that Musk's total losses exceeded the previous record of $58.6 billion, set by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son in 2000.
Elon Musk's net worth declined from a peak of $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 2023 on the back of the poor performance of the Tesla stocks, according to Forbes magazine.
The billionaire entrepreneur also saw him losing the status of the world's richest person to Bernard Arnault (France), founder of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy), who has an estimated net worth of $190 billion.
Even after his wealth dwindled more than any human in history, Musk still holds the ranking as the world’s second-richest person. Tesla’s stock continued to freefall over the past three months in the wake of his Twitter acquisition and related distractions, largely.
Investors believe that the Twitter acquisition has taken away Musk's focus from Tesla, a deal that weighed heavily on the stock due to speculation that he could sell more Tesla shares to keep the money-losing social media company afloat and take his eye off running the carmaker. This triggered the biggest Tesla stock sell-off since the company went public in 2010 as the electric vehicle maker stock closed 2022 with a 65 per cent loss.
Despite the loss, Tesla remains the most valuable car company in the world, with a market cap over $100 billion larger than their closest competitor, Toyota.