Tesla's Downturn: Musk Slips from 'World's Richest Man' Title

Bezos Reclaims No.1 Spot After 2 Years

Thanks to Tesla's soaring stock price, CEO Elon Musk, who had risen to become the world's richest person, ultimately lost the 'richest person' title to Amazon founder Chairman Jeff Bezos. This was due to Tesla's stock price falling to half of its 2021 peak. Meanwhile, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, which led the artificial intelligence (AI) rally, made it onto the list of the world's top 20 billionaires.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

According to Bloomberg's billionaire index on the 5th, Chairman Bezos's total net worth was $200.3 billion (about 267 trillion won), surpassing CEO Musk's net worth (about 263.5 trillion won). This is the first time in two years since 2021 that Chairman Bezos has topped Bloomberg's billionaire list.

CEO Musk's net worth decreased by about $17.6 billion in a single day. On that day, Tesla's Shanghai factory's January shipments dropped 19% year-on-year, causing the stock price to fall more than 7%, which led to a decrease in Musk's asset value since most of his wealth is in Tesla stock. Compared to the beginning of the year, the asset decline amounts to $31.3 billion. This contrasts with Chairman Bezos's net worth, which increased by about $23.4 billion this year.

Bloomberg reported, "CEO Musk lost the richest person position after about nine months," adding, "Recently, Amazon and Tesla stock prices have moved in opposite directions, shrinking the asset gap between CEO Musk and Chairman Bezos, which once reached $142 billion."

Tesla's stock price has already fallen more than 24% this year due to concerns such as weakening demand for electric vehicles. It has halved compared to its 2021 peak. On the other hand, Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company led by Chairman Bezos, saw its stock price rise from around $84 at the end of 2022 to about $177 on this day, more than doubling and nearing an all-time high. Online sales growth is at its highest level since the pandemic, and the AI rally has also contributed to driving up the stock price. Chairman Bezos holds a 9% stake in Amazon.

Meanwhile, the third place on Bloomberg's billionaire list was taken by Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton Mo?t Hennessy (LVMH). Following him were Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (MS). Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who had been predicted to enter the world's top 20 billionaires due to Nvidia's stock surge, also made the list at 20th place with a net worth of about $75 billion. Huang's net worth increase this year amounts to $31 billion, the second largest among the top 20 billionaires after CEO Zuckerberg ($50.7 billion).

Meanwhile, Bloomberg assessed that CEO Musk's assets could face greater damage in the future after losing the top spot. Recently, the Delaware court ruled to invalidate the $55.8 billion compensation package Musk received since 2018. Earlier, CEO Musk had also lost the number one spot to the Arnault family of LVMH in Forbes' billionaire rankings compiled in January.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.