Elon Musk briefly loses his title of richest person in the world to Bernard Arnault

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person as of September 2021

Elon Musk has held the title of richest person in the world since September last year and currently has a net worth of $185.7 billion. The outspoken businessman took over from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at that time. Meanwhile, Bernard Arnault and his family currently occupy the second position on the list of “richest people in the world“. According to Forbes, the CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has a personal fortune of $185.3 billion.

About twenty-four hours earlier, Elon Musk’s fortune plunged below $200 billion as investors dumped Tesla stock over Twitter concerns. These aggrieved stakeholders feared that the billionaire was spending more time worrying about his latest acquisition. The discontent also reflects the general decline in the electric vehicle company’s stock value since Elon Musk declared his interest in Twitter. Since April, Tesla shares have lost more than 47 percent of their value and are changing hands at a new 2.7 percent drawdown.

Elon Musk’s wealth is also $70 billion less than when he made a bid for Twitter in April.

Musk’s acquisition of Twitter was also characterized by several face-offs with the social media giant over how the company operates. At one point, the Tesla CEO backed out of the deal, which triggered legal action from Twitter. Elon Musk retaliated with a counter-suit, and the two sides clashed in a Delaware courtroom until the billionaire closed the deal in October. To complete the Twitter buyout, Musk had to take out a whopping $13 billion in loans, among other things. In addition, he committed an even larger sum of $33.5 billion in equity.

Companies controlled by Musk

With the acquisition of Twitter, Elon Musk now controls a series of the world’s most important companies in various sectors. The billionaire currently heads Tesla and the space exploration and satellite company SpaceX.

In addition, Elon Musk runs Neuralink, a startup that seeks to connect the human brain to computers via advanced technology. However, despite its revolutionary intentions, Neuralink is currently under federal investigation for potentially violating animal welfare laws. Some staff complaints decry this practice, claiming that the medical device company is rushing its animal testing procedures. According to these complaints, such a rushed testing process has resulted in unnecessary suffering and death.