The World’s Richest Billionaire is no Longer Elon Musk

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk grimaces after arriving on the red carpet for the Axel Springer award, in Berlin, Germany, December 1, 2020. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, is no longer the richest man in the world. At Monday’s end, he turned over that position to Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, according to Forbes.
The value of Tesla shares has more than halved this year, in part because of a sell-off that escalated after Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Shares ended the day down nearly 6.3%.
The rapid surge in Tesla’s share price, which soared more than 1,000% in two years, was the driving force behind Musk’s riches, which is mostly related to the company’s stock.
According to SEC filings, Arnault holds just under 60% of the voting share class of LVMH through holding entities and family trusts. According to Forbes, Arnault has a $186.2 billion net worth.
Elon Musk currently holds 14.11% of Tesla’s outstanding shares, which have a market value of $530 billion, according to FactSet data. According to a $125 billion private market estimate from June 2022, Musk also owns more than 40% of the shares of SpaceX, boosting his net worth by millions of dollars on paper.
In 2022, a year when equities have fallen, shares of LVMH have only fallen 1.5%. Based in Paris, LVMH is listed on the Euronext Paris exchange.
Elon Musk‘s fortune also trails Arnault’s according to the most recent version of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which employs somewhat different techniques.