Elon Musk regains spot as world’s richest man as Tesla stock surges 100%

Elon Musk has regained his position as the world’s richest man with a net worth of $187.1 billion thanks to Tesla’s booming stock price.

He has regained the title from Bernard Arnault, boss of luxury goods company LVMH, who is now the second richest with a net worth of $185.3 billion.

Musk’s wealth has been boosted by shares in Tesla, his electric car company, nearly doubling since early 2023. The company was one of several tech stocks to suffer badly last year, but it currently trades at $207.63 per share — down from $108.10 on Jan. 2.

The 51-year-old’s place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index had previously been surpassed by Arnault on December 13.

Musk’s return to the number one spot was sealed Monday as Tesla’s shares rose 5.5% during the day. It means Musk’s net worth on Tuesday afternoon was about $50 billion more than it was at the turn of the year.

Musk has regained his spot as the world’s richest man thanks to Tesla’s share price nearly doubling since the beginning of the year

Musk regains the position of world’s richest man from Bernard Arnault, boss of luxury goods company LVMH

Musk’s value in recent years has been largely driven by the value of Tesla, which skyrocketed during the pandemic as the company turned profitable, but suffered in part last year due to manufacturing concerns.

His net worth peaked at around $336 billion in November 2021.

Last year, his finances took a hit with his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. To complete it, he had to sell $15 billion worth of his Tesla stock. The closing of the deal in October alone caused Bloomberg to knock $10 billion off its value.

Luxury goods company LVMH weathered last year’s market turmoil and outperformed the benchmark S&P 500.

LVMH’s businesses benefited as demand for luxury retail products increased as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, allowing more shopping.

Arnault bought the French fashion house Dior out of bankruptcy in the 1980s and thus acquired a stake in LVMH.

That shareholder structure remains today. The Arnaults own more than 97 percent of Dior, which in turn owns 41 percent of LVMH.

The family also owns nearly 7 percent of LVMH, giving it total voting rights of well over 50 percent and control of the company.

Once worth more than $1 trillion, Tesla lost nearly 65 percent in market value in a tumultuous 2022, erasing more than $400 billion from the company’s market cap.

Tesla’s 2023 recovery came after an initially poor start to the year. The stock plunged nearly 14 percent on the first day of trading this year after the company fell short of estimates for fourth-quarter deliveries despite shipping a record number of vehicles.

Shares in LVMH, a major source of Barnard Arnault’s value, are currently trading at about $168.91

Musk’s value in recent years has been largely driven by the value of Tesla, which skyrocketed during the pandemic as the company turned profitable, but suffered in part last year due to manufacturing concerns

Musk has dominated headlines in recent days for his role as head of Twitter, which this weekend laid off 200 employees as part of its latest round of job cuts.

The social media company has cut more than half of its workforce since the Musk acquisition.

As details of the latest Sunday job cuts came to light, Musk tweeted, “Hope you’re having a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life.’

The layoff of much of the product team has led some to speculate that Musk is preparing to bring in entirely new teams.

The move comes despite Musk telling employees at a meeting in late November that there were no more plans for staff cuts.

At the time, Musk defended the decision to lay off 3,700 people, saying, “There is no choice if the company is losing more than $4 million a day.” He defended the decision, saying all those laid off were offered three months’ severance pay, “50% more than required by law.”