Elon Musk's net worth dropped $100 billion this year. Here's why.
Elon Musk's net worth has dropped to an estimated $195.6 billion, according to Forbes. Musk's net worth dropped on Tuesday, hitting its lowest point this year.
This is the second time since Oct. 1, 2021, that his net worth has dipped below $200 billion, except for a brief drop to $199 billion in May of this year, Forbes reports.
His net worth is still astronomical – and enough to solidify his spot as richest man in the world — but Musk's worth was once larger. In January, he had an estimated worth of $304.2 billion, Forbes says. At that time, his worth had increased about $32.6 billion as Tesla stock soared.
That was, of course, before Musk began his acquisition of Twitter in April. In August, he sold nearly 8 million Tesla shares – worth $7 billion – as a legal battle with Twitter loomed. Twitter sued Musk to enforce the rules of their acquisition agreement after Musk tried to back out. Musk then countersued, alleging the company committed fraud, breach of contract and violation of a securities law.
A judge paused the case in order to let the deal close, and last month, Musk officially acquired the company for $44 million.
The Twitter takeover was a tumultuous one. Musk recently sold another $4 billion in stock to close the gap on the deal – even though he said he was "done selling Tesla stock," according to Wedbush analysts.
And this week, he sold another 19.5 million Tesla shares – worth $3.9 billion – over three days, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Forbes reports. He now has sold $19.3 billion in Tesla shares since April. That, combined with the dip in Tesla share price, contributed to the decrease in his net worth.
Musk not only lost credibility with investors over his acquisition of Twitter, but also drew ire for the changes he immediately set into motion at the social media company. Many feared his changes to content bans would allow hate speech on the platform. He also fired top executives and a large swath of employees. And, he introduced "Twitter Blue" – a subscription for a blue checkmark that will cost users $7.99 a month – as a way to increase revenue.
Musk's net worth is made up of his stock and ownership of the six companies he co-founded, including Tesla, SpaceX and the Boring Company. While he offloaded a ton of Tesla stock, he still owns $445.6 million in Tesla shares, excluding options, according to Forbes.
He also now owns an estimated 82% of Twitter, after taking the company private with additional help from a $12.5 billion loan from a group of big banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
He is still ahead of the second richest people in the world, French billionaire Bernard Arnault and his family, who own fashion house LVMH. Their net worth is estimated to be $159.8 billion. Third richest is Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who gets his $144.7 billion net worth from infrastructure and commodities. Fourth is Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, worth $110.7 billion.