Misfortune: Musk creates Guinness World Record for losing personal wealth

The change in Musk's fortune saw him losing the title of the world's richest person to Bernard Arnault (France)

Billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk created a Guinness World Record for losing money. The tech tycoon has broken the world record by becoming the first person in history to lose $182 billion of his personal fortune in about two months.

The Guinness World Record wrote in a blog that the figures are based on estimates by Forbes, adding other sources suggested that it be closer to $ 200 billion.

"Although the exact figure is almost impossible to ascertain, Musk’s total losses far surpass the previous record of $58.6 billion, set by Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son in 2000," the world's record keeper wrote.

Musk's net worth dropped from a peak of $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 2023, largely because of poor performance by his Tesla stock.

 
Also, as he geared up to take the control of Twitter in a $44 billion deal, after much controversy around the deal, Musk had to sell $7 billion worth of Tesla stock. He sold more shares later, bringing his total sell-off to more than $23 billion since April last year. Additionally, the value of Tesla stock has dropped 65 per cent in 2022.

 
The turnaround in Musk's fortune saw him losing the title of the world's richest person to Bernard Arnault (France), founder of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy). Arnault has an estimated net worth of $190 billion. They are followed by Gautam Adani, whose net worth is estimated to be around $121 billion.

 
The Guinness World Record, however, said the net worth of billionaires is much more volatile and variable than the net worth of someone who earns an average income. This is because the bulk of a billionaire’s fortune typically takes the form of shares and investments. If their company’s share price tumbles, so does their net worth.

"As Elon Musk continues to build his own tech conglomerate, we won't be surprised to see him bounce back too at some point in the future," the blog post said.