Is Elon Musk's world's richest person title at risk as Tesla has lost half of its value?

It was a quiet day on Wednesday when the power dynamics among the top 1% changed briefly. On December 7, Bernard Arnault, the Chairman, and CEO of  Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) took over the crown of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and became the richest person in the world. However, Forbes reported that the reign of Bernard Arnault was a brief one. The Tesla CEO lost his title briefly to the LV head. But the brief shift made many question, is the empire of Elon Musk at risk?

On September 27, 2021, Forbes crowned the new Twitter head Elon Musk the richest person alive. Musk took over Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and didn’t forget to rub it on his face. According to Forbes, when Musk was asked to comment on his new feat, the Space X CEO wrote, “I’m sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal,” in an email. However, things changed 14 months later, on Wednesday, Forbes reported that the LVMH head Bernard Arnault took over Musk at 10:50 AM EST.  At 3:30 pm EST, Arnauld took over Musk all over again, according to Forbes, Arnault’s net worth was estimated at $184.7 Billion while Musk’s Networth was $184.6 Billion. However, Musk regained his crown at 4 pm EST, becoming the richest person alive all over again with a net worth of $185.4 Billion, Forbes reported. 

The risk to the Tesla CEO’s crown can be due to many reasons, but the one reason which looks the most relevant is his hostile and sudden acquisition of the social media networking site Twitter. Earlier this year Musk took over the social media microblogging site after he purchased Twitter for $44 Billion. The erratic decisions taken by Musk for Twitter had a domino effect on both of his companies in one way or the other.

Why Musk’s number spot at risk? 

Elon Musk’s electric car company lost half of its value since Musk proposed his intention to acquire the social media networking site Twitter in April. According to Guardian, the Tesla shares that were holding their ground at $340.79 in April, plunged by 49% to $173.44. One of the other reasons for the plunge in the shares can be the concerns around the disruptions of the factories in Shanghai, earlier this year. The Guardian also reported that the SpaceX CEO has sold a significant amount of Tesla shares since April. 

In August, when Musk was asked if he had sold his shares, he wrote on Twitter, “Yes. In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock”. On Friday, the Guardian reported that many shareholders of Tesla have expressed their concerns about Musk “dividing his time between Twitter and Space X”.  Replying to a tech journalist who wondered why the Tesla shares went down, Musk on Friday tweeted, "When there are macroeconomic risks, it is generally wise to avoid using margin loans on any company, as stocks may move in ways that are decoupled from their long-term potential."

The problems for the Tesla CEO didn’t end here. The turbulent decisions made by the new Twitter owner attracted numerous lawsuits against him. The social media networking giant also came under fire after city officials in San Francisco investigated the firm after a complaint alleged that Twitter is converting its offices into bedrooms. Hence, in the midst of all the chaos, Musk’s crown has the potential to slip.