MOSCOW, May 18 — SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk has lost the world’s second-richest ranking to France’s Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, after shares of his electric vehicle company fell 2.2 per cent, reported Sputnik.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk, who held the top spot in March, lost US$3.16 billion over the past day, resulting in a fortune of US$160.6 billion (24 per cent less than in January). Arnault’s wealth, in turn, grew by US$285 million to US$161.2 billion. Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos holds the ultimate leadership, as his fortune has risen by US$2.41 billion in a day — to US$190 billion.
The drop in Tesla shares came after Musk’s tweet saying that the company was no longer accepting digital currency as payment. The tech enthusiast, who recently revealed during the Saturday Night Live show that he has Asperger Syndrome, was accused of manipulating cryptocurrency markets.
On Monday, the price of Bitcoin plummeted by more than 10 per cent to around US$42,200, erasing more than a third of April’s historic price. It has been speculated that the volatility was caused by Musk’s posts on Twitter.
This is not the first time that the Tesla CEO’s tweets influenced the trading. On May 13, the Bitcoin price nosedived after Musk announced in a post that the company would stop accepting cryptocurrency to sell electric cars citing concerns over fossil fuel use during mining.
Sources: BERNAMA