Elon Musk reclaims title as world's richest person

Bloomberg Billionaires Index places Tesla co-founder at top of rich list after gains in the electric car maker's stock price

Jared Kushner and Elon Musk watch the Fifa World Cup final match between Argentina and France. Getty Images

Mr Musk attends model and businesswoman Heidi Klum's 2022 Halloween party at Moxy Lower East Side, in New York City Getty

Mr Musk on stage next to Optimus the humanoid robot in Palo Alto, California, in September 2022 AFP

Mr Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing 'Cyber Rodeo' grand opening party, in Austin, Texas, in 2022 AFP

Mr Musk shakes hands with Brazil's then president Jair Bolsonaro, at the event Conecta Amazonia in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, in 2022 AFP

Mr Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, arrive for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in 2022 AFP

Mr Musk attends the start of the production at Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2022 AFP

Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Mr Musk as Wario during the 'Wario' sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in 2021 Getty

Mr Musk and son X Æ A-12 onstage at 'Time' Person of the Year in New York, in 2021 AFP

Mr Musk dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, in 2021 Reuters

Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, at the time CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, at the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2021 Getty

Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, in 2020 EPA

Mr Musk leaves a New York court in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission Getty

A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019 Reuters

Mr Musk and then partner Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018 AFP

From left, Mr Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky at the White House, in 2017 AFP

Mr Musk presents his plan to colonise Mars at the International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016 EPA

Mr Musk with then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015 Reuters

Mr Musk with then wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in London Getty

Mr Musk after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010 Reuters

Then US president Barack Obama with Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010 Reuters

Mr Musk in the Tesla Roadster electric car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, in 2009 Reuters

Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones at the Tesla Roadster launch party in 2008 AFP

Mr Musk answers questions about the new Tesla Model S all-electric car, at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California, in 2009 AFP

Elon Musk in Los Angeles in 2008. Getty

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in 2004 Getty

The National

Elon Musk has reclaimed his place as the world's richest person after a rollercoaster 2022 that resulted in his wealth plummeting amid a sell-off of technology stocks and numerous controversies related to his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Mr Musk, co-founder of Tesla and also the owner of SpaceX, was worth $187 billion when markets closed on Monday, nudging aside Bernard Arnault, chairman of French luxury group LVMH, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The centibillionaire, 51, has added $50.1 billion, or 36.6 per cent, to his personal fortune since the beginning of the year.

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Mr Arnault now has a net worth of $185 billion. So far this year, he has added $23.3 billion to his fortune.

The majority of Mr Musk’s fortune is tied to Tesla stock, which has jumped 92.07 per cent this year to trade at $207.63 on Monday.

However, the stock is still down by nearly half its value compared with January 2022, when it was trading at $399.93.

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In January, Mr Musk broke the world record for the biggest wealth loss in history after shedding $182 billion from his net worth since November 2021, according to a report by Guinness World Records.

In 2022 alone, the father of 10 shed a whopping $138 billion from his net worth — almost equivalent to the gross domestic product of Hungary — resulting in Mr Musk losing his world’s richest crown for the first time in 14 months on December 12.

Mr Musk started 2023 with a net worth of $138 billion, a sharp drop from the peak of his wealth of $320 billion in 2021, Forbes magazine data shows.

He made his first millions in the 1990s, when he sold his first company, Zip2, for more than $300m. He then launched X.com, an online payment system that eventually became PayPal, which he sold to eBay for $1.5bn in 2002.

Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos remains in third place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $117 billion.

The world's richest people — in pictures

Bernard Arnault, 73, is chairman and chief executive of LVMH, which owns 70 fashion and beauty brands including Louis Vuitton. He’s worth $186.2bn. AFP

Elon Musk, 51, chairman of Tesla, SpaceX and now the owner of Twitter. He's worth $181.3bn. Reuters

Gautam Adani, 60, is chairman of India’s Adani Group, which controls ports, airports, electricity generation and property, among other ventures. He’s worth $134bn. Reuters

Jeff Bezos, 58, is the founder of Amazon shopping website and is worth $113.8bn. AFP

Warren Buffett, 92, is a titan of the financial world, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway and worth $108.1bn. AP

Bill Gates, 67, founded Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He’s now worth $106.4bn. Ruel Pableo for The National

Larry Ellison, 78, is founder and chief technology officer of software company Oracle. He’s worth $103.9bn. AFP

Mukesh Ambani, 65, is chairman of India’s Reliance Industries and is worth $92.8bn. Bloomberg

Carlos Slim, 82, is Mexico’s richest man and his family owns America Movil, the largest telecoms company in Latin America. He is worth $81.8bn. AP

Steve Ballmer, 66, former chief executive of Microsoft and owner of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers, is worth $81.7bn. AP

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the world's fourth-richest person with a personal fortune of $114 billion and Warren Buffett remains in fifth place with a net worth of $106 billion.

Until January, embattled Indian tycoon Gautam Adani held the third-place spot.

However, he has fallen to 32nd place as the market value of the Adani group of companies continues to plummet following a scathing report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Mr Adani now has a net worth of $37.7 billion.

Top 5 richest people in the world

  1. Elon Musk — $187 billion
  2. Bernard Arnault — $185 billion
  3. Jeff Bezos — $117 billion
  4. Bill Gates — $114 billion
  5. Warren Buffett — $106 billion
Updated: February 28, 2023, 1:32 AM