Elon Musks personal fortune took a hit of almost $13 billion on Thursday as the world watched a SpaceX rocket explode while Tesla delivered underwhelming earnings.
According to Bloombergs Billionaires Index, which monitors the real-time wealth of the richest people on the planet, Musks net worth was depleted of $12.6 billion on Thursday.
Much of Musks wealth is derived from shares in Tesla, which tanked nearly 10% on Thursday on the back of a disappointing quarterly earnings report. The plummeting share price erased $58 billion from the companys market cap.
On Thursday, the company reported net income of $2.51 billion for the first three months of 2023a year-on-year decline of 24%.
Investors were also put on edge as Musk, Teslas CEO, suggested the company would carry on with its price cutting spree to boost demand for its vehicleseven in spite of the squeeze on margins.
On Friday, Tesla hiked U.S. prices following six price cuts so far this year.
Starship explosion
While Teslas earnings report spooked investors, Musks name also appeared in headlines around the world on Thursday when SpaceXs mammoth Starship rocket exploded minutes into its maiden flight.
Musk said he had learned a lot from the launch and suggested the next test launch would go ahead within months.
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Musk has seen his wealth propelled upward over the past 10 years with the meteoric rise in value of Tesla share prices, which gained more than 4,000% in the decade since their IPO. He also owns more than 40% of existing shares in SpaceX, according to CNBC, which was reportedly given a private valuation of $137 billion earlier this year.
Despite remaining one of the richest people on the planet, Musks wealth has fallen drastically on the back of his Twitter acquisition and a raft of problems at Tesla, including slowing sales. In late 2021, Forbes named him the richest person in history with a fortune nearing $300 billion.
However, according to Bloomberg, Musk now has a net worth of $164 billion.
A year ago, he had a fortune worth $260 billion, the publications estimates show.
His current net worth still makes him the second-wealthiest person in the world, but the gap between Musk and first-place Bernard Arnaultfounder of luxury goods conglomerate LVMHhas continued to widen in recent months.
Over the past 12 months, Tesla stock has lost around 52% of its valuebut much of the stocks deepest losses have been recovered since the beginning of this year, with the companys shares gaining 50% since January.
Musks wealth decline may not be quite finished, howeverin fact, some market watchers outlooks for Tesla suggest his net worth could be set for a huge blow.
Thursdays earnings prompted several analysts to lower their price targets for Tesla, with one predicting the firms sharescurrently priced at around $163could nosedive to just $28. Another analyst labeled Tesla one of the most overvalued companies on the market, and predicted the stock could drop a further 80%.
Musk was propelled to the top of Bloombergs global wealth ranking thanks to Tesla shares gaining more than 4,000% in the decade after the firms IPO, while his other companies, like SpaceX, gained traction and secured investment. Just a decade ago, his net worth was $2.7 billion, according to Forbes.
