MAJOR LOSS, ELON MUSK BREAKS WORLD RECORD

One of the breaking news stories today is about a loss so incredible, so massive that it made my head spin, metaphorically speaking, of course, and not in a Linda Blair sort of way. 

Elon Musk, the co-founder of Tesla, owner of SpaceX, and recently Twitter, saw a significant fall in net worth after Tesla's stock price dropped. A Forbes magazine report said that the wealthy tech giant had lost roughly $182 billion since November 2021; different sources recommend it could be nearer to $200 billion. I'd freaked out when I lost a $20 bill that had fallen out of my wallet! But a $182 BILLION?

The report also stated that the specific figure is "almost impossible to ascertain" it noticed that Musk's complete wealth nose-dive even broke the record of $58.6 billion, set by Japanese tech financial backer and CEO of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, in 2000. Masayoshi's loss was due to poor investments after the boom of wealth he had accumulated.

According to the worldwide records data, "Musk's net worth dropped from a peak of $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 2023, largely due to the poor performance of Tesla's stock," referring to figures received from Forbes. The decline in Tesla's stock price can be attributed to several factors, including a decrease in demand for electric vehicles, concerns about the company's production capabilities, and the overall economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the company's recent decision to buy $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, also contributed to the decline in the stock price as it raised concerns among investors about the company's financial stability.

Despite this setback, Musk remains one of the wealthiest individuals in the world and is still worth an estimated $146 billion, closely tied to Tesla stock. Furthermore, his company Tesla has been a significant player in the electric vehicle market and continues to innovate and expand its offerings. Despite the recent decline, the stock market is always unpredictable, and the future performance of the company's stock is uncertain.

In December, Elon dropped from first place as the wealthiest individual on the planet to Bernard Arnault, the CEO of French extravagance products aggregate LVMH, which claims the design mark, Louis Vuitton.

Forbes gauges starting around 12 January put Arnault's total assets at $203.7 Billion and Musk's at $146.5 Billion, although neither is anything to sneeze at. Still, that's a significant blow to Elon's wallet and perhaps his ego after going from top dog to second!

Most of Musk's fortune is restricted in Tesla stock, the worth of which dove 65% in a turbulent 2022, the Guinness World Records report said. The decay advanced in October after Musk purchased Twitter for approximately $44 billion, which makes sense. He had to sell many of his shares in Tesla to be able to buy his acquisition of Twitter.

As the market shut for the year on 30 December 2022, Musk tweeted: "Long-term fundamentals are solid. Short-term market madness is unpredictable."

Although Elon Musk has lost a considerable amount of money, so we don't want to hear any boohoos. Hey man, you still have a lot of moolah; sorry, but not sorry.

Currently, the top wealthiest people on the planet are:

1. Bernard Arnault-Co-founder/CEO Louis Vuitton-net worth $164 billion

2. Elon Musk-Co-founder of Tesla, Owner of Space X & Twitter-net, worth $128-146 billion

3. Gautam Adani-Founder of Adani Group-net worth $119 billion

4. Bill Gates- Co-founder of Microsoft-net worth-$109 billion

5. Jeff Bezos-Founder & Executive Chair Amazon-net worth $109 billion

Net worth: The value of all non-financial and financial assets minus their outstanding debt.

FUN FACT: One billion dollars in $100 bills weighing 1 gram would weigh 10 tons or about 22,046 lbs. One billion 1 dollar bills, each being 0.0043 inches thick, would be 67.9 miles high. $1 billion in $100 bills is 10,000 feet tall (according to thehealthyjournal.com), like stacking 10 Eiffel Towers like legos. Now, instead of 1 billion, replace that with 146 billion. Boooooooooooom! We're talking $100 bills stacked; the stack would be extremely high, reaching a height of around 4,600,000,000 feet (878,400 miles). It'd be in space. We only have just under 12 billion $100 bills, so we couldn't stack 'em even if we wanted to.