Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest person as French magnate Bernard Arnault, with a net worth of $171 billion has pipped the Tesla chief to the second spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Musk, who recently bought Twitter in a multi-billion deal, has seen his fortune decline by $107 billion since January this year to $164 billion. Bernard Arnault, whose wealth largely derives from his 48% ownership of fashion giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, commonly known as LVMH, has seen his wealth fall more than $7 billion so far this year. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani retains 3rd spot on the list with a net worth of $125 billion.

Why Elon Musk’s net worth took a hit in 2022

Musk’s fall from the Numero Uno position, the first time that’s happened since he became number two in September last year, caps a tumultuous year for the entrepreneur. Earlier this year in April, the SpaceX founder shocked the world when he offered to take Twitter private for $44 billion. The offer came around the time when the Federal Reserve and other central banks embarked on their most aggressive round of monetary tightening in a generation to tame inflation, slashing the valuations of companies like Musk’s Tesla Inc, according to Bloomberg. So far this year, Tesla stock has plunged nearly 60%. 

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When Musk finalized the Twitter acquisition in October, the Bloomberg wealth index knocked $10 billion from his fortune. As Tesla share price slides, Musk’s stake in Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has become an increasingly important part of his net worth, The stake is worth $47 billion, based on the June funding round that valued the company at about $125 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.

Bernard Arnault’s rise to the top

It is interesting to note that Arnault has remained in the top 10 of the world’s richest list for years. However, his fortune never grew at the exponential pace of US tech billionaires including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg or Alphabet Inc.’s Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. This year, while the fortunes of these tech billionaires have been hammered by rising interest rates, falling up to $76 billion, Arnault, net worth in comparison has declined $7 billion year-to-date. Arnault’s Paris-based LVMH’s designer apparel, fine wines, and retail business have benefited from pent-up demand unleashed which happened when Covid-related shopping and travel restrictions were lifted in most countries.

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Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani: Indians among top 10

After the significant drop in Musk’s wealth, the gap between India’s richest person Adani and Twitter CEO narrowed to $39 billion. There are currently two Indians in the top 10 of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. While Gautam Adani occupies the third spot, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani whose current net worth is $89.7 billion is ranked ninth richest the list. In the top 10, there are seven billionaires from the United States, two from India, and one from France. Of these 10, only Adani has seen an increase in his fortune in 2022. While other billionaires’ net worth has tumbled, the Adani Group chairman has added $48.6 billion to his net worth so far this year.