Elon Musk’s Twitter posts maintain sending Bitcoin prices tumbling. His own fortune is going in the same direction.
On Monday, Tesla Inc.’s chief executive officer dropped his place as the planet’s second-richest person to LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault as the electric vehicle-maker’s shares fell 2.2%. That was on top of a week’s slump amid a rout in technology stocks and fresh signs of problem in its China business.
Musk, that held the top spot from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as recently as March, now has a fortune of $160.6 billion, down 24 percent from its January high.
The fall follows a turbulent period for Musk, who delivered Bitcoin tumbling as much as 15% a week after submitting a statement on Twitter that Tesla was no longer accepting the electronic currency as payment. He also whipsawed Dogecoin prices after tweeting he is working with developers of the Shiba Inu-themed token to improve transaction efficiencies.
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Wreaking Havoc
Over the weekend, Musk wreaked havoc when he seemed to suggest that Tesla may sell or has sold its own Bitcoin holdings before later clarifying in a tweet Monday the firm had done no such thing.
Musk, 49, became the world’s richest individual in January after Tesla’s stocks surged nearly 750 percent last year amid a boom in technology-driven stocks. Despite reporting document first-quarter gain, the Palo Alto, California-based firm’s shares have fallen by about a fifth amid a worldwide semiconductor shortage and increasing competition from traditional automakers.
Tesla’s skeptics include Michael Burry, the investor that rose to fame for making billions off bets against mortgage fraud throughout the financial crisis. He placed a big wager against the business, according to a regulatory filing Monday.
Musk’s fortune has dropped around $9.1 billion this past season, the most among U.S.-based billionaires tracked by Bloomberg’s riches index.
Meanwhile, Arnault, 72, has added the most, with his net worth climbing by almost $47 billion to $161.2 billion as sales of his firm’s luxury products spike in China and other parts of Asia.