After Tesla Inc. shares fell for the 2nd day in a row, Elon Musk has lost $50 billion this week. After Jeff Bezos’ $36 billion drops following his divorce from MacKenzie Scott in 2019, this is the largest 2-day and 1-day drop in history. Tesla’s slide follows a difficult few days for the company. It all started when Musk asked his Twitter followers whether he should sell 10% of his company’s stock over the weekend, followed by reports that his brother Kimbal had sold shares just before the poll.
To top it off, Musk may seek to sell shares to satisfy personal debts, according to an Insider report published Tuesday morning, citing Michael Burry, the investor made famous by the film “The Big Short.” As a result of the reduction, Musk’s lead over Bezos as the world’s richest person has reduced to $83 billion. Musk surpassed Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc., for the first time in January, and the distance between them has since increased to $143 billion, an amount more than Bill Gates’ net worth, the world’s fourth-richest person. Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management, whose funds have been selling Tesla shares for months, lost more than $750 million in Tuesday’s selloff.
Despite the downturn, Musk’s fortune has risen by 70% this year, mainly to Tesla’s gains, which have been fueled by solid profits and delivery statistics, as well as a greater value for SpaceX. Tesla’s market value has remained above $1 trillion, a level it reached last month after the firm’s third-quarter earnings exceeded forecasts and rental car company Hertz Global Holdings Inc. placed an order for 100,000 Tesla automobiles.