Elon Musk suffers biggest loss of wealth in modern history with net worth collapse

Elon Musk has suffered the biggest loss of wealth in modern history, with his net worth dropping by more than $200billion (£166bn).

The billionaire, who recently took over the social media site Twitter, lost over half of his fortune over the last 13 months.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s net worth declined by $208billion (£172bn) – roughly the same as the annual GDP of Greece. That amount is also more than the total net worth of the world’s richest person, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault.

Musk was previously at the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, but has since been overtaken by Arnault. His net worth was previously $338billion (£280bn). It now stands at $132billion (£110bn).

The huge drop in Musk’s net worth is largely down to the collapse of Tesla stock over the last year. “Don’t be too bothered by stock market craziness,” the CEO recently told staff at the car company, according to Reuters. “As we demonstrate continued excellent performance, the market will recognise that.”

Since Musk took over Twitter in October, the site has faced a number of difficulties. The CEO immediately fired several top executives and half of its workforce, with users soon advised to archive their Twitter history after speculation the platform could collapse.

Earlier this month, Musk said he would step down from his role as CEO of the site as soon as he finds “someone foolish enough to take the job”, following Twitter users voting for him to resign in a poll.

Earlier today, meanwhile, the billionaire responded to thousands of people reporting issues using Twitter by saying it “works for me”. Shortly before midnight last night (December 28), DownDetector, a website which tracks traffic on Twitter, reported that the social media site was having issues.

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