Eles Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, is no longer the richest person in the world, having lost about $ 30 billion of its net worth in less than 24 hours.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, which ranks the 500 richest people in the world, Musk is now worth $ 183 billion. That puts him in second place to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, with a net worth of about $ 186 billion.
The reason Musk lost so much money so quickly was because Tesla’s share price fell sharply earlier this week. The stock of the electric carmaker slipped nearly 13% on Tuesday morning after closing at 8.5% on Monday. The drop is the biggest hit that Tesla’s share has achieved since last fall, when it closed on September 23 with more than 10%.
Also read: GameStop, AMC shares fall in after-hours trading after big Reddit-driven spike
Musk is notorious for almost all forms of cryptocurrency, but now that Tesla’s share is even more linked to the successes or failures of Bitcoin, stock volatility has increased.
According to a recent SEC filing, Musk authorized Tesla to buy $ 1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin earlier in February in order to maximize the return on our cash and have more flexibility. About 3% of Tesla’s cash on hand is currently being converted into Bitcoin.
It appears the bet has not yet borne fruit for Musk, but analysts think it could. Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives told CNBC Money Tuesday that Tesla is now inextricably linked to the cryptocurrency markets.
Musk is closely linked to the bitcoin story in the eyes of the street, and although Tesla made a billion paper profit in the first month by owning digital gold, it carries an extra risk, as seen this week , “Ives said, adding that he thinks it’s generally still a smart move at the right time for Tesla. ‘
Also read: Reddit raises $ 250 million after #WallStreetBets Dust-Up
Musk has an extraordinary influence on the stock market; he can often cause runs or mass sales of certain shares with a single tweet to his more than 47 million followers.
Over the past few months, the Internet has seen an increase in meme stocks (stocks that an online community, such as Reddit’s retail investor forum Wall Street Bets, decides to trade in their masses) and cryptocurrency purchases. Another cryptocurrency called Dogecoin was created as a meme coin, but experienced a meteoric rise earlier this month as Musk tweeted about taking the coin ‘value to the moon’, at $ 1 per share (so far reached about 7 cents).
Bitcoin’s value is also experiencing a steep dive; the crypto-currency fell about 12% on Tuesday. Some index funds are also trading higher this week, and the NASDAQ opened 2% lower on Tuesday morning.
Despite the recent decline, Tesla’s share is still increasing and is about 317% higher than in the previous year.