Famous billionaire andTwitterowner Elon Musk may be feeling a lighter wallet in his back pocket as he has officially set a Guinness World Record for the largest amount of money lost in history. Following his purchase ofTwitterin October 2022, his rise in both popularity and personal fortune took a dip, accumulating in over $182 million dollars lost over a 14-month period.The self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” became the new owner of the social media platform only a few months ago, however several changes made over the last four months have been met with criticism by a majority of the users. Quickly losing notoriety,Musk posted a poll asking if he should step down as CEO, which he narrowly lost by a 57.5% result.RELATED:Elon Musk Hires PS3 Hacker to Work on TwitterIn a report by Forbes, Musk’s personal fortune began to dip as of November 2021, when Tesla Inc. — Elon Musk’s electric car distribution company — saw its stock drop at an alarming rate, losing 65% of its value in 2022 alone. It’s currently estimated that his losses could be closer to $200 million, and his personal net worth has gone from $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion, as of January 2023. While the drop can mostly be chalked up to Tesla’s poor performance, the billionaire himself has garnered some heat for various reasons, including an instance ofmangaka Kentarou Satou demanding royalties from Muskafter usage of a popular character from the Magical Girl Site manga.
Although his $138 billion net value is nothing to scoff at, Musk’s standing as the richest person in the world is no longer a title he possesses as Bernard Arnault’s $190 billion places him ahead of Musk. The France-born Arnault is known for founding Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, the highly-expensive and luxurious brand of designer handbags, which are handcrafted and sold at extremely high prices. Of course, Musk’s personal finances took a small dip afterhe made his purchase of Twitter back in October 2022, but what was not predicated was a highly-volatile market that saw Tesla’s stock come crashing down, losing Musk a staggering amount of wealth in just 14 months.
While the blame can’t solely be placed on Musk’s behavior, his attitude on social media has certainly given many reason to believe he has plenty of fault to shoulder. Whether it’snew changes to Twitter’s verification systemthat contradict his free speech beliefs or his continued meme posting to mock those who oppose him, Musk has certainly earned himself some of the heat he’s gained since purchasing the social media platform. While he may be on the ropes with his current losses, it won’t be surprising to see Musk bounce back at some point and climb back up the ranks of personal fortunes.
