Elon Musk has lost $200 billion since November 2021, a record
The head of Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX has become the second person to see his fortune surpass the iconic $200 billion mark, shortly after Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.
ECONOMY – Elon Musk’s wealth melted like snow in the sun. At 51, the new head of Twitter will know everything financially. Elon Musk, the second person after Jeff Bezos to reach the symbolic threshold of $200 billion in personal wealth, has now set a new record.
According to the American Bloomberg network, the CEO of Tesla is currently the only person in the world who has lost nearly 200 billion dollars. Based on data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people (by wealth), the media claims that after a dark year for Tesla, Elon Musk has seen his fortune drop to $137 billion. .
On November 4, 2021, the multibillionaire’s personal fortune still reached $340 billion, making Elon Musk the richest person in the world. Before being overtaken in December 2022 by Frenchman Bernard Arnault, who heads the world’s number one luxury group LVMH. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bernard Arnault is currently worth $162 billion.
The shadow of the Twitter takeover
To explain the reasons for this unprecedented decline, it is impossible not to dwell on the latest stock market data for the Tesla brand. On Wall Street, the automaker has lost two-thirds of its stock value in 2022 on fears about demand for electric vehicles, not to mention concerns over the entrepreneur’s travails after his takeover of Twitter.
The manufacturer nevertheless increased shipments by 45% in the first three quarters, despite the supply problems, and posted a profit of about $9 billion during the period, despite sharply rising costs. But this is still below the long-term target of increasing shipments by 50% per year.
Even if Tesla still dominates the American market with 65% of the market share in the first nine months of the year, that’s down from 79% in 2020 and should fall below 20% in 2025. , S&P Global analysts predict.
On Tuesday, December 27, Tesla’s stock fell again (-11%), the latest in a long streak for the company in 2022. Twitter’s shadow still hangs, especially after it was bought by Elon Musk for $44 billion at the end of October. Tesla needs one “A leader who can weather it through the storm” and not the boss “Who’s in the spotlight on Twitter”In another note published at the end of 2022, Wedbush’s Dan Ives estimates.
Loss of credibility with investors
For this famous takeover, the multi-billionaire sold several billion dollars worth of Tesla shares, first to finance the purchase of his new toy, and then to finance the operating costs, selling again in early December for 3.6 billion when he claimed in the spring. no intention of selling more.
Elon Musk has also thrown the social network into disarray, firing half of its employees, allowing suspended internet users like Donald Trump to return, or firing journalists for reasons that remain unclear. “Musk has lost all credibility with the investment community”Dan Ives says in reference “Broken Promises” on the sale of shares, “Twitter Fiasco” and “political disputes” on the platform.
He is dead “relevant” In a recent note from Oppenheimer’s Colin Rusch, valuing Tesla without considering Elon Musk’s erratic management of Twitter. But in defense of the South African-born entrepreneur, Tesla’s shares have also suffered from the general decline in the stock markets this year. In a mid-December Twitter chat, Elon Musk also admitted that rising interest rates and the economy will slow demand for Tesla. But “I still continue to predict that Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world in the long term.”he said.
In a message to employees on Wednesday, the company, consulted by CNBC, urged them not to “Not paying too much attention to the frenzy of the stock market”. It should be said that the group’s share increased by more than 700% in 2020 and by more than 50% in 2021. Although it recovered to about 13% over the last three days of the year, it still showed a 65% decline. all of 2022.
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