Elon Musk Loses Wealthiest Person Title to a Retired 60-Year-Old
For the first time in history, Elon Musk has lost the title of the richest person on the planet to another billionaire. Surprisingly, this billionaire is none other than Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, who stepped down from his empire to focus on other projects. Meanwhile, Elon Musk remains dedicated to Tesla and Twitter-X.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk’s position as the richest person was dethroned after Tesla’s stock price dropped 7.2% on March 4, 2024. The total value of Musk’s assets now stands at $197.7 billion, slightly lower than Jeff Bezos’ $200.3 billion.
While Elon Musk only held the position for 9 months, this marks the first time since 2021 that Jeff Bezos has reclaimed the top spot as the wealthiest person in the world.
As a result, the wealth gap between Elon Musk (52 years old) and Jeff Bezos (60 years old) has widened to $142 billion, with Amazon’s stock rising while Tesla’s has fallen.
Since the end of 2022, Amazon’s stock price has doubled, reaching a record high, while Tesla has lost 50% of its value since its peak in 2021.
The decline in Tesla’s stock price is attributed to the news of reduced deliveries from their Shanghai factory, the lowest in over a year. Conversely, Amazon is experiencing growth in e-commerce sales, which has been a positive outcome following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, Elon Musk’s ongoing legal issues regarding a $55 billion stock award at Tesla are expected to impact the company’s stock price.
Currently, the majority of Elon Musk’s wealth comes from Tesla, while Jeff Bezos’ wealth mainly stems from his 9% stake in Amazon. Despite selling 50 million shares last month with a total value of $8.5 billion, Bezos remains the individual with the highest number of shares in the company.
This is the latest occurrence of Jeff Bezos reclaiming the title of the world’s richest person. The last time was in 2017 when he took the top spot from Bill Gates. However, in 2021, the significant increase in Tesla’s stock price allowed Elon Musk to surpass Bezos.