Elon Musk drops to the second richest person

Tesla billionaire Elon Musk is again the second-richest person globally after his fortune fell by almost $14 billion in one day. Musk drops to the second richest person just days after his short tenure as the planet’s wealthiest person.

On Monday, shares of his electric-vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, fell by almost 8 percent, pushing down Musk’s net worth by $13.5 billion to $176.2 billion. Elon Musk has again dropped to second place, according to Forbes’ estimates. He briefly overtook Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person last Friday. Bezos, who has a net worth of $182.1 billion, is now about $6 billion ahead of him. On Monday, Amazon’s shares fell by more than 2 percent, reducing Bezos’ net value by $3.6 billion.

Musk received several tranches of options worth billions of dollars each throughout 2020 as Tesla hit different market capitalization and EBITDA milestones. Tesla’s board of directors certifies each tranche’s award and then issues a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission in a regulatory filing.
Musk happens to be eligible for another 8.44 million options, worth around $6.25 billion at the trading price on Monday. Still, Forbes has not yet allocated these options to Musk because they have not been officially certified by the board.

Fueled by the skyrocketing Tesla share price since March 2020, when it was worth $24.6 billion, Musk’s fortune has increased by around $150 billion. In 2020, Tesla’s stock rose more than 720 percent, and in the first week of 2021, it had already gained another 12 percent. In late December 2020, Tesla joined the S&P 500 Index, which also led the stock higher. In 2020, Tesla was the world’s most valuable automaker, producing half a million cars, a fraction of the production at global giants such as GM and Toyota.
Musk is still some $20 billion richer than the third richest person globally, French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault, despite his drop on Monday (worth $154.6 billion today).