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Elon Musk is no longer the richest man in the world after a sharp drop in the value of his shares in electric car company Tesla this year.
According to Forbes and Bloomberg, Mr. Musk was overtaken in first place by Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury goods group LVMH.
Mr. Musk is the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla, with a reported stake of about 14%.
In October, he bought the social network Twitter for 44 billion dollars.
According to Forbes, Mr. Musk is now worth around $178 billion.
As for Bernard Arnault, his value amounts to 188 billion dollars.
What happened to Elon Musk?
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In November 2022 Tesla had to recall 321,000 cars with software issues
Mr. Musk’s Twitter deal only came about after months of legal wrangling, and some have cited the distraction of that takeover as one of the factors behind Tesla’s stock price plunge. .
After taking a stake in Twitter earlier this year, Mr. Musk made his $44 billion offer in April, but many felt that offer was too high.
In July, it pulled out of the operation, citing concerns about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Twitter executives ended up taking legal action to get Mr. Musk to honor his offer.
Dan Ives of investment firm Wedbush Securities said the “circus” surrounding the Twitter deal weighed on Tesla’s stock price.
“Musk has gone from superhero for Tesla stock, to villain in the eyes of the street, as the overhang grows with each tweet,” he told the BBC.
“The circus show on Twitter has hurt the Musk brand, and Tesla’s stock is badly affected. Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk.”
Mr. Musk sold billions of dollars worth of Tesla stock to help fund his purchase, which helped drive the stock lower.
Investors also worried that demand for the company’s electric cars could slow as the economy weakens, rising borrowing costs discourage buyers and other companies boost their supply of electric vehicles. .
Tesla has also been hit with recalls, as well as government crash investigations and its Autopilot feature.
Bernard Arnault’s empire
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Bernard Arnault has overtaken Elon Musk as the richest man in the world, according to Forbes.
French tycoon Bernard Arnault is the founder, CEO and major shareholder of the largest luxury goods group LVMH, also known as Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, headquartered in Paris.
LMVH has a total of 75 luxury brands, 163,000 employees (2020 data) and a network of more than 4,590 stores worldwide. Among the group’s many other brands are Bulgari, Kenzo, Tag Heuer, Dom Pérignon, Möet & Chandon, Hermès and Christian Dior.
In early 2021, after a year of negotiations complicated by the pandemic, LVMH acquired legendary American jeweler Tiffany & Co, giving Arnault a larger share of this growing sector of exclusive jewelry.
Since then, the multinational conglomerate has set out to increase its presence in the online retail market and gain exposure among young consumers and customers in China.
