Billionaire Elon Musk, formerly the richest man in the world, has set a new record. The Tesla founder and Twitter owner has become the first person in history to lose $200 billion off his net worth.
This significant loss comes after Musk, 51, became only the second person to ever amass a fortune of more than $200 billion in 2021, following Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk’s net worth, which peaked at $340 billion in November 2021, has dropped to $137 billion as Tesla shares have fallen 65% in the past year. It has been the electric carmaker’s worst year to date.
The decline included an 11% drop on Tuesday alone after the Wall Street Journal reported that a surge in COVID cases had forced Tesla to temporarily halt production in Shanghai.
In a memo sent to staffers Wednesday, the billionaire thanked workers for their “exceptional execution” throughout the year while downplaying the company’s dismal stock performance.
“Don’t be too bothered by stock market craziness,” Musk said in the memo. “As we demonstrate continued excellent performance, the market will recognize that.”
Musk lost his title as the world’s richest man earlier this month, with the baton being handed over to Bernard Arnault, the French chairman and CEO of LVMH.
Musk’s historic losses highlight how high Musk and Tesla soared during the pandemic.
Despite owning just a small piece of the electric vehicle market, Tesla was valued at over $1 trillion by October 2021, joining other tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
However, as competitors have quickly caught up and are challenging Tesla’s dominance in the electric vehicle market, Musk’s attention has focused on his newest venture as the owner and CEO of social media giant Twitter.
Musk was 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 outlet.
Since his headline-grabbing Twitter takeover, Musk has taken major measures to cut costs at the social media company.
He has slashed about 75% of the 7,500 employees and is closing the company’s Seattle offices after reportedly refusing to pay rent.
