NEW YORK, USA – Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s wealth fell severely on Thursday, July 20, 2023, as his fortune plunged by $20.3 billion.
This came in response to Tesla Inc.’s announcement that it might have to persist in slashing the prices of its electric vehicles, causing the company’s shares to plummet.
This drop to $234.4 billion marks the seventh-largest decline in history among those listed in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
It also lessens the wealth gap between Musk and Bernard Arnault, the chairman of luxury goods maker LVMH, and the world’s second-wealthiest person.
Musk’s fortune remains approximately $33 billion larger than Arnault’s.
Based in Austin, Texas, Tesla shares plunged 9.7% to $262.90 in New York, the steepest decline since April 20.
This followed Tesla’s cautionary message of potential additional blows to its profitability, which has been declining for some time.
Months of persistent markdowns have negatively impacted the company’s automotive gross margin, which plummeted to a four-year low in the second quarter.
“If interest rates continue to rise, Tesla will have to keep lowering prices,” Musk warned on Wednesday.
Musk, 52, primarily accumulates his wealth from his substantial stakes in the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla and his investments in Space Exploration Technologies and Twitter.
Despite the recent slump, Musk’s wealth had seen a considerable increase of approximately $118 billion this year through Wednesday, propelled by Tesla shares’ 136% ascent.
On the other hand, Arnault, 74, has experienced a net worth increase of $39 billion this year, bringing his fortune to $201.2 billion.
His Paris-based company, LVMH, shares have appreciated 26% in 2023.
Oh, Really?! Elon Musk Upset that Mark Zuckerberg Hired Staff He Fired from Twitter
A cease-and-desist letter from Elon Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, has been sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The letter alleges that Meta has employed “dozens of former Twitter employees” to develop a rival social media app, Threads, launched recently.
The letter claims that these employees, some of whom were laid off during Musk’s significant downsizing of Twitter, still have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and confidential information and have “improperly retained Twitter documents and electronic devices.”
The letter reads: “Based on recent reports regarding your recently launched ‘Threads’ app, Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms (‘Meta’) has engaged in systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”
Andy Stone, Meta’s communications director, on Friday, July 7, 2023, denied the allegations, stating that “no one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee.”
This controversy arises following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, during which he significantly reduced the company’s size by laying off around 80% of the staff – approximately 6,500 employees.
Musk described this action as one of the most complex decisions he’s made, labeling it as “not fun at all. Painful.”
During Musk’s reign, Twitter has seen controversial changes, including relaxed content moderation rules and a paid verification process.
According to Zuckerberg, threads, the newly launched app by Meta, gained approximately 30 million sign-ups within a day of its official launch.
Reports suggest that Meta employees have seen turmoil at Twitter under Musk’s leadership as an opportunity to develop a competitor app.
