New York (CNN Business) — Elon Musk is about to lose his status as the world’s richest person, according to one metric.
This Wednesday, Musk briefly dropped to second place in the rankings Forbes list of “real-time billionaires,” ranking the Twitter and Tesla CEO behind Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH, maker of Louis Vuitton and Hennessy cognac. Forbes now estimates Musk’s net worth at $184.9 billion, just ahead of Arnault’s estimated $184.7 billion.
“The two men’s fortunes are nearly equal, separated by just $200 million, so it won’t be surprising if they continue to swing around Forbes’ list of the world’s richest.” noted Forbes.
The publication also said Arnault’s hike comes as LVMH shares are mostly flat this year, while Musk has experienced a “dramatic slump in Tesla’s share price,” which is down 56% in 2022. Musk’s strategy of partnering with right-wing influencers on Twitter could also weigh on Tesla’s stock. Musk’s wealth peaked in November 2021, with an estimated value of $320 billion, according to Forbes.
Musk recently sold about $4 billion of Tesla stock to fund his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, which is mired in issues including layoffs and advertisers wary of the platform’s leadership. Musk had sold blocks of Tesla stock totaling $15.4 billion earlier this year when his deal to buy Twitter was announced.
However, estimating Musk’s overall wealth is a difficult task, as much of his money is invested in his private companies, including SpaceX, rocket and internet company, tunneling firm The Boring Company and Neuralink, which wants to chip into the people’s brains.
Despite the losses, Musk is far ahead of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who is in third place, with a net worth of $134.8 billion, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose net worth is estimated at $111. 3 billion dollars.
In the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk ranks first with a net worth of $179 billion. Arnault is in second place, with a net worth of $165 billion. Yet Musk has lost an estimated $13 billion this year, according to Bloomberg calculations. The list is updated daily after the market closes.
