Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX and social media site X, among others, has been deposed as world’s richest person – with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos overtaking him, according to new figures.
The latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index lists Bezos’ wealth at a fraction under $200 billion. Musk, however, has a mere $198 billion.
Musk has lost his lead as over the past 12 months he has managed to lose $31 billion of his net wealth, whereas Bezos has gained $23.4 billion to overtake him.
It was a tumultuous year for Musk, so news that his net worth has declined is not a major surprise. Shares in Tesla, the automotive company that he part owns, have been volatile over the past 12 months, sometimes in reaction to public statements Musk has made. Likewise, the value of X – which he renamed from Twitter – is widely estimated by experts to have reduced in the last year, despite the introduction of paid-for blue checks, as advertising revenue is reportedly down on the site.
Musk’s net wealth could also be adversely impacted in the future – a recent judgement blocked a huge $55.8 billion payslip from Tesla.
Meanwhile Bezos has been in the headlines far less than Musk over the past year for his business ventures. He still owns just under 10% of Amazon – where he is executive chairman – even though he has recently sold some of his stake for billions, which has helped to grow his net worth.
The news of Musk losing his title comes on the same day that a spacecraft built by his SpaceX company has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) and its hatch has opened successfully. The crew of three Americans and a Russian are expected to stay on the ISS for six months to conduct a range of experiments.
