Elon Musk is the $400 billion man no longer; now he’s just the $395 billion man.
Musk’s net worth fell below $400 billion for the first time this year on Monday, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth declined more than $7 billion yesterday when Tesla (TSLA) stock, which is estimated to account for about one-third of his wealth, slid 3%. Shares were down a further 4% Tuesday morning.
Musk became the first person to reach a $400 billion net worth in December as Tesla stock soared after Donald Trump’s re-election. Musk spent at least $277 million in support of Trump’s campaign, Bloomberg Billionaires Index said, and was subsequently tapped to head the president’s efforts to slash federal spending.
Trump has sought to end government support for the green energy transition. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order to eliminate “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs.” Regardless, investors piled into Tesla stock after Trump’s election in the hope that Musk’s sway with the president would benefit the EV maker.
Shares have also gotten a boost from Musk’s promise to introduce fully autonomous vehicles and a robotaxi service this year. Musk’s relationship with Trump is expected to help Tesla clear the regulatory hurdles to rolling out self-driving cars.
Musk’s second-largest asset is his stake in privately held space exploration company SpaceX. Bloomberg estimates Musk owns about 42% of the company, which was recently valued at nearly $350 billion.
Forbes, which maintains a real-time billionaire wealth tracker, put Musk’s net worth at $384 billion as of Tuesday morning.