Elon Musk has lost his spot as the second richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Tesla founder was ousted by Bernard Arnault, president of LVMH, after the electric vehicle maker’s shares fell 2.2% on Monday.
Arnault has amassed a fortune of $161.2 billion, while Musk’s fortune fell to $160.6 billion
However, the reason for Musk’s drop in wealth goes beyond the Monday dip. The company’s stocks have been falling since it hit the high of $900 in late January.
Tesla shares are dropping
The stocks have fallen about 24% to about $580 causing the Tesla founder a loss of about $9.1 billion this year, the most among U.S. billionaires.
The reason for the continuous dip in Tesla Stocks vary but the reason for the latest may be tied to its recent post on Twitter.
Musk on Wednesday, May 12 announced that the company would suspend the use of bitcoins for vehicle purchases over climate change concerns.
Following his announcement, the price of Bitcoin tumbled from $54,602 down to $52,466 in minutes, according to Coindesk. It also triggered a wipeout of about $350 billion from the crypto market.
Bitcoin Enthusiast are Angry
Angry about Musk’s announcement, several Bitcoin investors turned against him. Some said they would cancel their Tesla Cybertruck orders while others called for investors to short their Tesla stocks.
Investor and skill incubator founder, Chris Dunn lash out at Musk saying that his claim about Bitcoins environmental effect is incorrect and disingenuous. “I cannot support someone who pumps altcoins to uninformed people on TV, then claims bitcoin is the problem,” He added
Similarly, Nikita Sachdev, Co-founder of Luna Management tweeted that her followers should sell Tesla shares and buy Bitcoin.
They not alone, several investors also took to social media to call for people to short Tesla shares and cancel their orders for Tesla’s cyber-truck. Nikita’s tweet alone got over 16 thousand likes.
Directly or indirectly, this backlash could have lead to Tesla shares drop. As reports show that its shares were down 4.42 per cent in the last 24 hours that followed.
That’s not all, over the weekend, Musk wreaked havoc again when he seemed to imply that Tesla may sell or has sold its Bitcoin holdings. He later clarifying in a tweet Monday that the company had done no such thing but the harm had already been done.
Tesla’s share had fallen another 2.2%.
This followed with billionaire investor Michael Burry, placing a sizable wager against the company, according to a regulatory filing.
In Summary
Musk’s drop in wealth was a direct consequence of Tesla’s stock falling 24% from its January high.
The recent drop could have been caused by the backlash of his recent tweets but the main reasons surround a global semiconductor shortage, increasing competition from traditional automakers and EV startups, and regulatory concerns in China weighing on investor sentiments.
The new second richest man in the world, Arnault has added almost $47 billion to climb to $161.2 billion this year as sales of his firm’s luxury goods surge in China and other parts of Asia.
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