Elon Musk, one of the most controversial businessmen of recent times, lost $165 billion over the course of last year and early this year, leaving him as the billionaire with the largest loss of personal wealth in history, according to the Guinness Book of Records. of the Records.
However, Guinness indicated that Musk’s losses may be higher. The news came after the value of Tesla shares fell after buying Twitter in 2022 for 44,000 million dollars; It is worth remembering that Tesla is Musk’s electric car company.
The situation made Tesla investors nervous about the way Elon Musk was managing the company, it is even worth remembering that in recent days, South Korea fined Tesla $2.2 million for alleged misleading advertising.
According to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), the company exaggerated and made false claims online about the range and charging speed of its electric vehicles. The US automaker also made misleading claims about fuel economy compared to gasoline vehicles, it added.
According to the KFTC, the range of Tesla’s electric vehicles is reduced by up to 50.5% in cold weather, compared to what was advertised on the local Korean-language website.
Tesla also failed to inform buyers that “charging performance varies greatly based on supercharger type, outside temperature, and battery state of charge,” the regulator said in a statement. The agency imposed an additional fine of 1 million won for failing to provide sufficient information on the cancellation policy, among other issues.
Faced with this panorama and being in the eye of the hurricane, the businessman was ranked number one of the richest people in the world, now Bernard Arnault, executive director of the French company Lvmh that owns the fashion brand Louis Vuitton, stayed in this place.
The record for the largest loss of personal fortune was held by Japan’s Masayoshi Son, a technology investor who in 2000 his wealth fell by $58.6 billion.
Despite the loss that Musk had during the last year, his fortune is 130,000 million dollars. Musk took over the social network and his decisions generated controversy, such as the dismissal of half of the company’s staff or the reopening of the account of former US President Donald Trump, which had been closed for inciting violence.
The tech moguls who lost fortunes in 2022
Mark Zuckerberg:
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has multiplied efforts to promote the metaverse, the virtual world touted by its promoters as the future of the internet.
Investors were not seduced by the metaverse, however, as evidenced by the plummeting share price of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which has lost 66% in stock value since the start of the year.
Zuckerberg’s fortune fell by $81 billion to $44.4 billion. Heavily dependent on advertising revenue, Meta also suffered from global inflation and increased competition.
Jeff Bezos:
Since leaving Amazon CEO in July 2021, Jeff Bezos has devoted much of his time to space exploration with his company Blue Origin.
Their wealth, however, remains strongly tied to the value of the shares of Amazon, the colossus of online commerce, which have fallen more than 49% in 2022.
Amazon CEO Bezos has lost more than $86 billion this year. His fortune is estimated at 106,000 million dollars. Also owner of the newspaper The Washington Post58 years old, told the CNN in November that he planned to donate most of his estate to charity.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin:
Google’s two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have no longer led the company since resigning in 2019 from their executive roles at parent company Alphabet, which also includes YouTube and email service Gmail.
They do, however, sit on Alphabet’s board of directors, of which they are the largest individual shareholders. The 39% drop since January in Alphabet shareswhich has slumped its ad revenue and faces rivals like TikTok, has weighed on the fortunes of both.
Page’s fell by $46.1 billion and Brin’s by $44.8 billion. But they are still among the world’s richest people: Page is in 10th place, with $82.3 billion, and Brin is 11th, with $78.8 billion.
*With information from the AFP agency
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Elon Musk became the first billionaire to lose a significant sum of his wealth