To say that Elon Musk has not had the best last few weeks would be putting it mildly.
In fact, the explosion of the SN10 prototype is plenty representative of the state of Elon Musk’s personal finances right now.
Setting records ablaze by accumulating an astronomical $100 billion in a year, the ball has rolled steeply downward for Musk.
Astonishing as it is, the South Africa-born self-made centi-billionaire has lost a whopping $27 billion in a very short span of 4 days. The spiral, attributed chiefly to Tesla tumbling after a selloff of tech stocks, left Musk with a hole in the pocket. Just to put things in perspective and to understand how big is the financial dent, Elon Musk’ loss in the 4 days is much more than Flipkart’s current valuation! Holy smokes!
No more than a few days ago, Tesla had fallen as much as 25% after the Tesla Chief’s tweet caused him an agonizing aggravation in a single day. At the time, the tech tycoon’s fortune sat at $166.1 billion.
Now, with the latest downturn, his net worth of $150.8 billion, still granting him a position on the World’s Richest, has caused him to trail nemesis Jeff Bezos by more than $25 billion, who sits atop with $176.6 billion.
The tussle for the richest-of-them-all crown between Musk and Bezos has been a see-saw ride, to say the least. The SpaceX founder unseated Bezos from the #1 spot on the list in January, as his fortune soared at $210 billion. However, the Amazon Inc. founder has fought back to wrest the title multiple times, causing a frequent swapping of positions.
Musk’s predicament is all the more exacerbated due to his meteoric rise in the past few years. Tesla shares rollicked 743% in the year 2020, providing a significant boost in addition to unlocking billions of dollars by grabbing the “moonshot” package multiple times.
Being cash-flow positive, consistent with posting quarterly profits provided the haven for enthusiasm from retail investors. The strong advocation for clean, sustainable technology has also helped Tesla to grab eyeballs in huge numbers.
However, with all the favourable factors, his dabbling in Bitcoin has what has led to such financial fluctuations bordering on extreme. Only last month, Tesla disclosed it had added $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrency to its balance sheet. As if on cue, Musk’s fortune took a $15 billion nosedive two weeks later after his tweet that the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies “do seem high.”
Musk’s net worth has indeed been rising and falling in rhythm with Bitcoin’s prices.
Elon Musk can find company with other moguls in Zhang Shanshan, the Nongfu Spring head, who had to relinquish the title of Asia’s richest person to Mukesh Ambani following a $22 billion loss due to extreme volatility.
Another notable mention can be of Quicken Loans Inc. Chairman Dan Gilbert, whose net worth also plunged by $25 billion following Rocket Companies’ debacle at the stock exchange.
How much a concern this looks to be for Musk is difficult to gauge, who has been up to his usual antics, taking a dig at GM Motors and Chrysler in a tweet today.
The roller-coaster with Musk looks likely to continue. Don’t rule out anything just yet. After all, one tweet tomorrow could replenish his treasure for all we know.
Stay tuned for more updates.
