For the first time in almost nine months, Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest person.
Musk lost his spot atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to Jeff Bezos when Tesla Inc. shares fell 7.2% on Monday. Musk currently has a net worth of $197.7 billion, whereas Bezos’ fortune is $200.3 billion.
For the first time since 2021, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, 60, has topped Bloomberg’s list of the richest individuals.
The wealth disparity between Musk, 52, and Bezos, which was once as large as $142 billion, has narrowed as Amazon and Tesla stock prices move opposite directions. While both are among the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks that have powered US equity markets, Amazon shares have more than doubled since late 2022 and are closing in on a record high. Tesla is down around 50% from its 2021 peak.
Tesla shares plummeted on Monday as preliminary data indicated shipments from its Shanghai factory dropped to the lowest in almost a year. Amazon recently achieved its highest online sales growth since the pandemic began.
Musk’s fortunes could suffer a further damage after a Delaware judge overturned his $55 billion pay deal at Tesla, where he is CEO. The verdict supported an investor who had challenged Musk’s remuneration plan, which was the largest in history.
The options contained in the cancelled plan are among Musk’s most valuable assets, alongside his shares in Tesla and SpaceX. The Bloomberg index continues to factor them into its estimations of his worth.
The vast majority of Bezos’ fortune stems from his 9% investment in Amazon. He remains the online retailer’s largest shareholder, after selling 50 million shares for approximately $8.5 billion last month.
For Bezos, sitting at the top of the wealth rankings is a familiar position. In 2017, he became the world’s richest person, surpassing Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft.
However, a huge increase in Tesla shares forced Bezos to compete with Musk for the top place throughout 2021. Late that year, he dropped far behind and didn’t retake the top spot until now.
Bernard Arnault, 74, the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury goods manufacturer, is also one of the world’s wealthiest, with a net worth of $197.5 billion.