Tesla founder Elon Musk has reportedly lost $20.8 billion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index his year-to-date loss puts his net worth at $149 billion, dropping him to second place on the index behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose net worth is estimated to be $174 billion.
As of Friday, Tesla’s stock had fallen about 15% so far this year, according to the New York Post. It ended last week at $597.95 per share — the lowest level since early December.
But by late Tuesday morning, it had climbed back to $632 per share.
Musk’s wealth mushroomed last year after Tesla posted six straight profitable quarters, delivered nearly 500,000 cars and joined the benchmark S&P 500 stock index. The growth helped fuel a dramatic jump in the automaker’s share price, the Post noted.
But Tesla shares have dropped recently amid increased competition from startups like China’s Nio, along with larger rivals, such as General Motors.
Tesla is also being forced to deal with a worldwide computer chip shortage that has reportedly impacted automakers around the world, the Post said. Tesla, however, remains the dominant player in an electric-vehicle industry that could account for 20% of the world’s auto sales by 2030, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said.
Here's the rest of the top 12 of Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of Monday:
- Bill Gates — $136 billion
- Bernard Arnault — $117 billion
- Warren Buffett — $97.7 billion
- Mark Zuckerberg — $97 billion
- Larry Page — $92.9 billion
- Sergey Brin — $89.9 billion
- Larry Ellison — $84.3 billion
- Mukesh Ambani — $84.3 billion
- Steve Ballmer — $82.3 billion
- Francoise Bettencourt Meyers — $73 billion
Musk’s wealth had actually dropped by $27 billion as of last week as Tesla’s stock fell 11.5%, according to CNN. Musk and Bezos had been trading places atop Bloomberg's list since January.
Now, the two are separated by $25 billion. Musk remains $13 billion ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Meanwhile, CNN reported that Tesla's stock gained 743% in 2020. The gain pushed it to the No. 5 spot on the list of most valuable companies on the stock market.
The stock had continued its climb in the early weeks of 2021, gaining another 25% to a record high close of $883.90 per share on Jan. 26.
But the news network reported Monday that shares had lost nearly a third of their value since then.
Musk, however, still stands to become much wealthier in 2021 as he'll likely receive additional grants to buy Tesla shares this year, CNN reported.
In addition, the company completed a new funding round in February. Reports say the $850 million that it raised increased the valuation of that company 60% to $74 billion.
Musk is also the largest shareholder at privately-held SpaceX.