Recently, the significant stock price correction of global electric vehicle leader Tesla has put pressure on the CEO and world's richest man Musk to significantly reduce his wealth.
According to the latest estimate from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk's net assets as of October 31 were $193 billion. This is the first time since early June that his wealth has fallen below $200 billion.
Currently, Musk holds approximately 13% of Tesla's shares, which account for the majority of his personal wealth.
Since Tesla released disappointing third quarter results on October 18th, Musk's wealth has shrunk by approximately $41 billion. Before the quarterly report was released, his net assets were approximately $234 billion.
Tesla's revenue in the third quarter was $23.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%, which is the slowest growth rate in more than three years, while analysts expect it to be $24.06 billion; Adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter were $0.66, with analysts expecting $0.74; The market's most concerned gross profit margin dropped to 17.9%, slightly lower than Wall Street's expected 18%.
Not only that, Musk's speech on the post Q3 earnings conference call was also very pessimistic. He warned that Cybertruck faces significant challenges in mass production and achieving positive cash flow, and emphasized that the company will focus on making cars cheaper in a high interest rate environment. This conference call was even described by Wall Street analysts as a "mini disaster".
Since the release of the financial report, Tesla's stock price has continued to decline. On Monday, the stock closed at $197.36, down 4.79% as Tesla supplier Panasonic significantly reduced battery production in the third quarter and attributed the decline in profit prospects to sluggish Tesla demand. Tesla's stock price has fallen by a cumulative 21% so far this month. However, the stock's growth so far this year is still as high as 60%.
Despite a significant decline in Musk's net assets, he is still the wealthiest person in the world, ahead of Bernard Arnault, the owner of LVMH, the second ranked luxury retail giant. Arnold is currently worth $156 billion.
As luxury spending shows signs of declining, Arnault's wealth has also shrunk due to the decline in LVMH's stock price. LVMH's stock price has fallen by over 6% so far this month and 1.3% so far this year.