Elon Musk returns to being the richest man in the world after five months off the top spot – Jovem Pan

The Tesla founder and CEO chose not to buy Twitter and posted a meme mocking his decision to opt out of acquiring the social network

Elon Musk He returned to take over the position of the richest person in the world by overtaking French businessman Bernard Arnault, owner of Louis Vuitton, who since December 2022 has been in the lead. According to the Bloomberg list, which ranks 31st in size and includes 500 people, he took first place with an estimated fortune of 192 billion Singapore dollars (about R$ 973.4 billion), which is $ 5 billion more than the French. Billionaires have been fighting for months for leadership and taking turns at the top spot, which is now under the control of the Tesla CEO. In the first five months of 2023, Musk amassed earnings of $55.3 billion (about R$277 billion), fueled by the rise of Tesla, the businessman’s main source of income – it accounts for 71% of the businessman’s fortune. The positive points recorded in the first five months of the year compensated for the loss recorded last year, which amounted to more than 100 billion dollars, and made him the first person to lose more than 200 billion dollars. Musk also owns it Twitter and CEO of SpaceX. Unlike Musk, shares in Bernard Arnault’s LVMH have fallen 10% since April, which represents a loss of $11 billion of the Frenchman’s net worth in one day.

If Musk sees his fortune growing, his company, Twitter, is going in the opposite direction, because it’s currently worth a third of the $44 billion the billionaire spent last year buying the social network, according to an estimate. Fidelity Investment Fund is one of the companies that participated in the process. Fidelity estimates its stake in Twitter was just over $6.5 billion at the end of April, compared to $19.7 billion in October last year, when Musk completed the company’s acquisition. Thus, the fund’s estimate — which appears in a document detailing its investments — would give Twitter a valuation of about $15 billion today. Musk, who bought Twitter last year with the promise of restoring his vision of “free speech,” has made significant changes to how the platform operates, prompting many advertisers to withdraw or reduce their ad spending on the social network. So far, advertising has taken up most of the company’s revenue, as the businessman has made massive staff cuts amid warnings of possible bankruptcy if spending is not cut.

* With information from EFE