Tue 18 May 2021:
Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk has lost his spot as the world’s second-richest person due to a decline in electric vehicle maker’s shares and drop in Bitcoin’s price.
According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, Musk’s assets were valued at $160.6 billion (b) on Monday following a 2.2 per cent drop in Tesla’s shares. The value of Musk’s assets has dropped by 24 per cent from its January peak.
Tesla’s founder lost his second position to LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault.
Musk’s tweet was in response to an unverified Twitter account called @CryptoWhale, which had claimed, “Bitcoiners are going to slap themselves next quarter when they find out Tesla dumped the rest of their #Bitcoin holdings. With the amount of hate @elonmusk is getting, I wouldn’t blame him…”.
Musk replied “indeed” without specifying whether Tesla had sold off its Bitcoin holdings or that he simply agreed with the sentiment that he faced criticism.
On May 12, Musk said Tesla would no longer accept Bitcoin for car purchases, citing long-brewing environmental concerns for a swift reversal in the company’s position on the cryptocurrency.
Musk, 49, became the world’s richest person in January after Tesla’s shares surged almost 750% last year amid a boom in technology-driven stocks. Despite reporting record first-quarter profit, the Palo Alto, California-based company’s shares have since fallen by about a fifth amid a global semiconductor shortage and increasing competition from traditional automakers.
Musk’s fortune has dropped about $9.1 billion this year, the most among U.S.-based billionaires tracked by Bloomberg’s wealth index.
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