Elon Musk is no longer the richest man on the planet. The Twitter CEO dropped to second place on Forbes' annual list, his spot taken by Bernard Arnault, the CEO of luxury goods group LVMH. Arnault's fortune is valued at $188 billion, compared to Musk's $178 billion net worth.
The reason Musk's wealth fell off, as reported by BBC, was a sharp stock market decline in electric vehicle company Tesla. Musk is not only its CEO, but also its largest shareholder with a stake of around 14% . The company has been suffering a drop in share price since mid-September. The decline, Global News assures, accelerated after Musk's purchase of Twitter.
Musk's acquisition of the social network for $44 billion forced him to sell some of his Tesla shares, where most of his liquidity comes from. Tesla continues to suffer steady losses on the stock market, with its shares dropping 6.3% on Monday, as reported by CNBC.
Twitter acquisition does not benefit Tesla
Tesla investors have been clear that the car company is not benefiting at all from the excessive attention Musk is paying to his new venture. According to Gary Black, who owns $50 million in Tesla shares, says the reason is clear: the company has no one in charge:
There is no TSLA CEO today
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) December 12, 2022
In another tweet, Black continued to show his dissatisfaction with Tesla's decline which, he said, was clearly affected by everything that happened with the "Twitter Files":
My 2 cents: The market voted today that the $TSLA brand has been negatively impacted by the Twitter drama. Where before EV buyers were proud to drive their Teslas to their friends or show off Teslas in their driveways, now the Twitter controversy is hurting Tesla’s brand equity.
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) December 12, 2022
Ross Gerber, a longtime backer of electric cars, also believes Musk has neglected his job as Tesla CEO, saying as much on his Twitter profile:
Question to the tesla BOD? Who is running tesla day to day during this critical time for the company. Maybe you should communicate with shareholders @MartinViecha as the $500 bil of lost market value seems worthy of some thought. $tsla
— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) December 13, 2022
Later, in another tweet, Gerber added that he did not see the electric car company having serious problems beyond its CEO being focused on another company:
There is nothing wrong at tesla at all. Other than the CEO working at another company, certainly tesla deserves a focused ceo. It would be helpful to know what Elon’s plans are. Thanks @MartinViecha $tsla
— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) December 13, 2022
Who is Bernard Arnault?
Musk was surpassed on the wealth leaderboard by Bernard Arnault, a French tycoon who is the founder, CEO and majority shareholder of the world's largest luxury goods group Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), headquartered in Paris.
The company has 163,000 employees (according to 2020 data), at least 4,590 stores worldwide and a total of 75 luxury brands, including Moët & Chandon, Hermès, Christian Dior, Kenzi, Bulgari, Dom Pérignon and Tag Heuer.
In addition, early last year, LVMH took over legendary New York jeweler Tiffany & Co, significantly increasing Arnault's net worth and ensuring that, given Musk's fall, the French tycoon is now the richest man in the world.
