Seeing all the cool ways people break records was one of the reasons I loved getting the Guinness Book of World Records every year as a kid. In 2023, Twitter’s CEO managed to obtain one for himself, but he probably wishes he hadn’t. That’s right, Elon Musk has broken a Guinness World Record for largest loss of personal fortune. But just how much money did Elon Musk lose?
It hasn’t been a great few months for Elon Musk. Twitter users have had a mass exodus since he left the platform, and the ones who stayed voted for a new CEO in a poll he set up. Oh, and he lost billions.
The Tesla CEO has suffered the greatest loss of wealth in all of history, which can’t be an easy pill to swallow.
How Much Money Did Elon Musk Lose To Get A Guinness World Record?
According to Guinness World Records, Elon Musk has lost $182 billion.
The loss was recorded in December 2022 and is largely to do with poor Tesla stock. However, purchasing Twitter for over $40 billion probably didn’t help either. The controversial figure suddenly became part of quite a lot of people’s everyday life, particularly when it came to light how he might be treating employees.
Guinness World Records say that the actual total sum of his loss is “almost impossible to ascertain”, but some other sources are claiming it to be closer to $200 billion.
Whether it’s the first figure or the higher, both are much higher than the previous record holder. This was set by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son, who held the record from 2000 after losing $58.6 billion.
Elon Musk Is No Longer The Richest Man In The World
The highest peak of Elon’s wealth was recorded in 2021 when he had $320 billion. As of this month, his worth has significantly reduced to $138 billion. Another thing he has lost is his title as the richest man in the world.
Now, he is second to Bernard Arnault, who is co-founder and CEO of LVMH, who owns Louis Vuitton. He has a net worth of $164 million.
Tesla stock plummeted by 65 per cent last year. This was accelerated in October after Elon took over Twitter.
The riches of billionaires are often largely due to shares in stock, a volatile market. It wouldn’t be surprising if Elon’s net worth skyrocketed and bounces back this year because of this. Tesla is still the most valuable car company in the world by more than double its next competitor.
Whilst Elon Musk breaking a Guinness World Record for losing money seems quite ironic, it won’t affect him greatly in the long run. In fact, it’s a little heartbreaking to know that even after losing almost $200 billion he’s still the second-richest man. We, however, can only dream of having $200 million to lose.
