Elon Musk began 2023 by setting a world record – for money lost.
The Tesla and Twitter CEO lost so much money in the last year that Guinness World Records acknowledged him. He has officially broken the global record for the “largest loss of personal fortune in history,” according to a press statement issued by the organization.
Musk’s net worth has dropped by $183 billion in just over a year, while Bloomberg puts the figure at $200 billion.
Before Musk, the previous record for personal fortune wiped out was established by Softbank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son in 2000, at a significantly smaller $58.6 billion.
According to Bloomberg estimates, Musk’s net worth peaked in November 2021 at $340 billion. However, Tesla shares, which account for most of Musk’s fortune, went into rapid fall last year, plummeting 65% by 2022. Their precipitous drop accelerated when Musk purchased Twitter in October.
As a result, Musk is no longer the world’s richest person, having been surpassed by Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the French conglomerate that owns Louis Vuitton.
According to the most recent Forbes estimations, Musk is now worth $144.4 billion.