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The volatility surrounding Elon Musk continues - but this time the outcome is positive for the Tesla CEO and Twitter owner.
Musk has once again come out on top as the richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. With a net worth of $187 billion, he surpassed Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, who initially beat Musk to the title in December, when his $186.2 billion surpassed Musk's $185 billion. But now the tables have turned again, with Arnault in second place with $186 billion, having stumbled slightly after enjoying his time on the throne.
This replacement in the place of the richest came in large part thanks to the successful start of the year of the Tesla brand. Demand for the company's electric vehicles is surging, and its stock is up a whopping 92 percent through February 27. As a result, as of January 1, Musk received $50.1 billion. It's an impressive turnaround for the Tesla boss, who became the first person to lose $200 billion earlier this year. However, his current net worth has fallen from its peak of more than $300 billion in late 2021.
Part of the overall decline was due to Musk's controversial purchase of Twitter, for which he sold more than $20 billion in Tesla stock. Additionally, he might have overtaken Arnault even faster had he not donated 11.6 million Tesla shares to an unnamed charity, as recently revealed. Donated between August and December last year, the shares were reportedly worth $1.9 billion. While much of Musk's wealth is tied to Tesla stock, his holdings in space exploration company SpaceX continue to make up the bulk of his net worth.
While Musk is back on top for now, he and Arnault may continue to battle for that top spot, given that their net worths differ by only a few billion dollars. The two CEOs, however, are way ahead of the crowd: the world's third-richest person, Jeff Bezos, has a net worth of just $117 billion, a pretty paltry sum compared to Musk and Arnault.
Musk's return to the title of richest person is certainly welcome news for a man who is still dealing with a wave of negative publicity from the acquisition of Twitter and a poor previous year for his Tesla brand.
