Elon Musk has been unseated as the world’s richest person for the first time in over nine months, yielding the top spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to Jeff Bezos. This shift occurred following a 7.2% decline in Tesla Inc.’s shares on Monday. Musk’s net worth now stands at $197.7 billion, while Bezos boasts a fortune of $200.3 billion.
Remarkably, this marks the first time since 2021 that Bezos, aged 60 and the founder of Amazon.com Inc., has secured the leading position in Bloomberg’s ranking of the wealthiest individuals.
The wealth discrepancy between the 52-year-old Musk and Bezos has gradually narrowed, with the gap once exceeding $142 billion. This trend is attributed to the divergent trajectories of Amazon and Tesla shares. While both companies are part of the elite “Magnificent Seven” stocks that have buoyed US equity markets, Amazon’s shares have surged by over 100% since late 2022 and are nearing a record high. In contrast, Tesla’s shares have plummeted by approximately 50% from their peak in 2021.
On Monday, Tesla shares experienced a decline following preliminary data indicating a decrease in shipments from its Shanghai factory to the lowest level in over a year. In contrast, Amazon reported its strongest online sales growth since the early stages of the pandemic.
Elon Musk’s wealth may face further challenges after a Delaware judge invalidated his $55 billion pay package at Tesla, where he serves as chief executive officer. The decision favored an investor who had contested Musk’s compensation plan, which had been the largest in history. Options included in the annulled plan represent one of Musk’s significant assets, alongside his ownership stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Despite this development, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index continues to factor them into calculations of his wealth.
The majority of Jeff Bezos’s fortune stems from his 9% ownership in Amazon, where he remains the largest shareholder despite recently selling 50 million shares valued at approximately $8.5 billion. Bezos’s tenure as the world’s richest person is not unfamiliar, as he first surpassed Microsoft Inc. co-founder Bill Gates in 2017.
However, a substantial surge in Tesla shares during 2021 resulted in Bezos and Musk competing for the top spot in wealth rankings for much of the year. Towards the end of 2021, Bezos fell behind significantly and has now reclaimed the number one position.
Bernard Arnault, 74, chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury-goods maker, is also among the world’s wealthiest individuals with a net worth of $197.5 billion.