Amazon founder Jeff Bezos overtook Elon Musk and reclaimed his position as the world’s richest man after Tesla’s shares fell sharply taking a blow on Musk’s wealth. Bezos surpassed Musk’s net worth even as his fortune fell by USD 3.7 billion to USD 186.3 billion Monday, as reported by Bloomberg.
In the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which is a ranking of the world`s 500 wealthiest people, Musk fell to second place after Tesla’s shares dropped by 8.6 per cent, wiping USD 15.2 billion from his wealth. Elon Musk’s net worth is currently at USD 183.4 billion.
This was the biggest decline in Tesla’s shares since September last year. The decline was fueled after Musk commented on the prices of Bitcoin and its smaller rival Ether. Musk’s comments on Bitcoin came almost two weeks after Tesla announced an investment of USD 1.5 Billion in the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin slipped for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, with the cryptocurrency falling below USD 50,000 on questions over its durability.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have been swapping positions as the world’s richest man since January this year, with Musk taking over Jeff Bezos after his SpaceX raised USD 850 million earlier this month, valuing the company at USD 74 billion, an increased by over 60 per cent as compared to August.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos remained the world’s richest man for three years in a row after his stint at the top ended in January. Bezos, earlier this month, had also announced that he will be stepping down as Amazon CEO in the third quarter of this Financial Year to focus more on other projects started by the billionaire. Bezos owns space exploration company, Blue Origin and Washington Post apart from his e-commerce company Amazon.
