FORBES
Less than a month into his latest run as the richest person in the world, Elon Musk has once again fallen to second place amid a crash in Tesla stock.
Shares of the electric vehicle maker–which surged earlier this year, allowing Musk to regain the top spot on Forbes’ ranking of the planet’s billionaires in June–have fallen by more than 7% this week, helping lop $21.2 billion off Musk’s fortune. His net worth stands at $236.5 billion as of noon on Friday, some $1.6 billion less than the world’s new number one, French luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault.
Things were going well for Musk this week, with Tesla shares closing at their 2023 high on Tuesday. Then the company released its second quarter earnings report after the market close on Wednesday. Despite higher-than-expected earnings, investors reacted sourly to the report as pessimistic warnings have grown louder about whether the $818 billion (market capitalization) company is overvalued. Shares dropped nearly 10% on Thursday and have fallen another 0.5% as of noon Friday.
Musk, who owns about 23% of Tesla between stock and options, felt the drop personally. Meanwhile, Arnault–with whom Musk has jockeyed for the top spot in the billionaire ranks in recent years–had a less rough week. Shares of his LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany and scores of other high-end brands, have fallen by about 3% over the week through Friday, a small enough to decline for Arnault, who owns about 48% of the business, to fall by less than Musk…
