Elon Musk breaks world record for largest loss of wealth in history after $182 billion drop

On Friday the record authority said the Tesla cofounder had suffered the largest loss of personal fortune in history, at an estimated $182 billion since November 2021.

Guinness World Records said the exact figure was “almost impossible to ascertain” because the calculation is based on an estimation by Forbes. It added that other sources—which have valued Musk more highly—suggest he could have lost closer to $200 billion.

The Twitter owner and chief executive takes over the unfortunate title from Japanese tech investor Masayoshi Son, who set the previous record for losing $58.6 billion in 2000.

The revelation also saw Musk stripped of his status as the world’s richest person, handing the baton to Bernard Arnault, the founder of luxury goods multinational LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy). Arnault has an estimated net worth of $190 billion.

It comes after a tumultuous year for two of Musk’s headline businesses.

Tesla saw a record 65% drop in its stock price in 2022—including a major selloff in December that pushed shares down more than 36%.

But even despite concerns over rising costs, competitive threats, and the risk that a recession will slow demand, the electric vehicle company still has a stock market value of roughly $389 billion, courtesy of its meteoric rise in 2020 and 2021.

This month also kicked off to a bumpy start after Musk slashed the price of two main model lines in China in a bid to compete with rival BYD. Mobs of angry Tesla customers reportedly showed up at several Tesla showrooms across the country demanding some form of compensation for buying a new car at the older, higher prices. 

Twitter pain

In November, Bloomberg reported Musk had sold another $3.95 billion of Tesla shares to fund his buyout of Twitter—despite promising not to do so. This took his total sales in shares of the company to $36 billion in a single year.

Musk has openly talked about Twitter being a “drain” on his life savings following his acquisition of the social media firm in October.

After asking his followers if he should step down as chief executive—to which a majority voted yes—Musk replied to one volunteer for the top post: “One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?”

In November, Volkswagen joined Pfizer and General Mills in an advertising exodus from the platform while it monitors how Twitter evolves.

Kelsey Roemhildt, a spokesperson for General Mills, said: “As always, we will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend.”