Elon Musk Is No Longer The Richest Human On The Planet

Since September 2021, we have seen one man at the top of the wealthiest people in the world: Elon Musk. The businessman is behind Tesla, SpaceX, and is the new owner of Twitter and took the top spot from none other than Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, but it appears his time at the top has finally come to an end.

That’s right; Elon Musk is no longer the richest human on the planet, as Bernard Arnault has officially overtaken the billionaire. While Musk still sits in the top few spots of the list, it looks as though recent business decisions and falling stocks are hitting the billionaire harder than ever before.

Various aspects caused Tesla stocks to fall

Seeing his Tesla stocks fall 6% on December 12, 2022, is the reason Elon Musk is no longer the richest human on the planet, but what caused the fall? That’s all down to the fact the stocks are trading at their lowest ever, coming in at 30 times forward earnings. A lot of the fall is due to a decline in need in China, which is home to the largest car market in the world. Supply chain issues and inflation also haven’t helped the electric car company, all adding up to Musk losing a huge chunk of his net worth. 

Buying Twitter didn’t help Elon Musk’s ranking

Elon Musk has been in the news a lot in recent years, with his purchase of Twitter one of the biggest purchases to happen in recent years. It turns out that Musk had to sell over $19 billion of his Tesla stock to raise the money needed to complete the deal, as the billionaire has most of his wealth tied up in the company. As if that wasn’t enough, Musk had to bring in new investors and rearrange positions within Tesla to raise the $44 billion needed. The problem? Several investors believe the billionaire is now more focused on his delve into social media than the company and have started to lose faith in Musk after so many years.

Bloomberg also claims Musk is no longer the richest human

Forbes is usually the place to go when it comes to the wealthiest people in the world, with the publication now ranking Elon Musk’s net worth at $177.8 billion. On the other hand, Forbes places Bernard Arnault - the CEO of LVMH, art collector, investor, and ventures into luxury goods - at a staggering $188.1 billion. Still, Forbes isn’t the only one tracking those at the top, with Blomberg using its own Bloomberg Billionaires Index. They might have different numbers, but the results are still the same. According to BBI, Elon Musk now has a net worth of $168.5 billion, while Arnault’s is $172.9 billion, making the race to the top even closer. 

SpaceX could be the only thing that helps Elon Musk

It seems the only thing that might pull the top spot back for Elon Musk is his space-orientated company, SpaceX. There are reports from Bloomberg that insider shares could soon be up for sale, which would see the company grow to become worth a whopping $140 million. As of now, BBI’s estimate of the billionaire’s net worth is partly down to SpaceX being worth $125 billion, meaning the boost in numbers could be enough to see him become the richest human on the planet once more. After all, Mush has a 44% stake in SpaceX, with an estimated worth of $47 billion.

The news that Elon Musk is no longer the richest human on the planet wasn’t something many thought they would hear. While there is every chance it’s just a blip in the plan, and the billionaire will soon have his businesses back on track, there have also been plenty of examples of business people struggling to climb back once they lose that first-place title.