Elon Musk lost his position as the world's second-richest person on Monday after Tesla's shares fell another 2.2%, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He has been unseated by luxury goods tycoon, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault. Both billionaires are currently set apart by a few millions on the list of the world's wealthiest people.
Arnault has amassed a fortune of $161.2 billion, while Musk's has fallen to $160.6 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Musk's drop in his wealth is a direct consequence of Tesla's stock falling 24% from its January high. The EV-maker's shares spiked to an intraday high of $900 (R13,500) in late January, but has since slumped by more than a third to around $580 (R8,700) per share.
The company's market capitalisation has dropped to below $560 billion from a peak of almost $870 billion. It has been facing PR issues in China that hurts its monthly sales, according to Wedbush.
Musk had nabbed the top spot on the list in January after Tesla shares skyrocketed amid a boom in technology stocks.
The Tesla boss was already having an eventful week in markets after his bitcoin U-turn triggered a wipeout of around $500 billion from the crypto market. Bitcoin stabilised after he clarified Tesla hadn't sold any of its crypto holdings. His suggestions on how to improve the technical efficiency of dogecoin spurred small increases in the price of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency.
"Tesla is the poster child of the low or no earnings equity movement that has worked incredibly well, as markets saw ever-increasing central bank liquidity through 2020," said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone, adding that when Tesla moves, it can become a momentum and trend juggernaut.
"That time is over, at least for now it seems, and in a world where market participants are debating the timing around a reduction in the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program, and other central banks are already tapering theirs, the market has moved from high growth stocks to value."
