Elon Musk breaks Guinness World Record for most money lost

Elon Musk managed to break the world record for the largest personal wealth loss after suffering a tough year financially that wiped out approximately $182 billion of his fortune.

Despite being a highly successful billionaire who owns major companies such as Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX, in a matter of months the tycoon saw losses in the billions, giving him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for 2023.

The book's claim was based on data collected by Forbes that indicates that from November 2021 to December 2022, Musk's net worth went from $320 billion to $138 billion..

Although his net worth climbed back up to $144 billion in the early weeks of January, his losses dethroned him as the richest man in the world, falling just below Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury conglomerate LVMH, which includes brands such as Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., Dior and Sephora, among others.

Reason for losses

One of the main reasons Musk lost so much money was Tesla's plummeting stock price. In the last 12 months, the electric car company's shares fell 73%. Much of this decline came as a result of Musk's decision to sell some of his shares for his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.

This, plus the controversies that have emerged since the billionaire acquired the social media platform, are precisely why Musk earned his spot in the record books. The previous record-holder was Masayoshi Son, founder of Softbank, who held the record after losing 58.6 billion dollars in 2000.

However, Musk still doesn't have much to fret, because as the Guinness Book of World Records reminds us, "even though Musk has lost more money than any human in history, he won't be going hungry any time soon - he’s still the world’s second-richest person."