Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no longer the world’s second-richest person in the world after Tesla shares slumped sharply after a global rout of technology stocks last week.
According to the latest ranking on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Louis Vuitton (LVMH) Chairman Bernard Arnault trumped Musk after Tesla’s shares fell 2.2 per cent. The 72-year-olds net worth rose from $47 billion to $161.2 billion as sales of his firm’s luxury goods surged in China and other parts of Asia.
According to a report in Bloomberg, 49-year-old Musk was on the top spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in March. He saw his fortune reduce to $160.6 billion — down at least 24 per cent for its January high.
Elon Musk’s net worth could decline further after his recent statement which led to a slump in Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, by almost 17 per cent. Musk said Tesla would no longer accept the digital currency as payment.
Musk also implied Tesla may sell or has sold its Bitcoin holdings. However, he clarified on Monday that the company had done no such thing.
Musk had become the world’s richest person in January after Tesla’s shares surged almost 750 per cent due to a recent boom in technology-driven stocks.