by Billionaire Elon Musk’s net worth continues to plummet, surpassing the amount of money both Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos lost in 2022.
Like Tesla shares (TSLA) – Get a free reportThe electric car company of which he is CEO, Musk also saw his net worth fall by $103 billion year-to-date as of Dec. 12, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, lost $23.5 billion of his net worth while Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon AMZN, saw his fortune decline by $78.6 billion. The two tech moguls lost a combined $102.1 billion.
Musk’s net worth is now $168 billion, while Gates is worth $115 billion and Bezos has a fortune of $114 billion.
Warren Buffet, CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate (BRK.A) – Get a free reportit only lost $690 million and is worth $108 billion.
Tesla stock tank
Shares of Tesla have tumbled 17.6% in the past month and 51.16% in the past year and traded at $161 on Dec. 13 at last check as Musk continues to focus his attention on Twitter. the social media network it bought for $44 billion in October.
Since the takeover to take Twitter private, Musk’s attention has been diverted away from Tesla. Its competitors, such as China’s BYD, are gaining ground and more market share.
Investors are getting tired and want to see some action to reverse the stock’s performance.
The EV company’s market cap dropped sharply from nearly $1 trillion on Jan. 26 to just $482.89 billion as of Dec. 13.
Musk was forced to sell Tesla shares and use margin loans to finance the Twitter takeover.
It appears that the Tesla CEO has currently quit the company and is focused on publicly engaging in Twitter attacks with advertisers who make up more than 90% of his revenue, his users, employees and other famous people.
His latest bouts against Yoel Roth. Twitter’s former head of trust and security and Dr. Anthony Fauci will likely only dissuade advertisers from returning to the website.
The company restarted its Twitter Blue subscription service on December 12 in a bid to boost revenue. The service allows anyone who pays a monthly fee to receive the infamous blue tick, edit their tweets, and upload high-quality videos.
Musk’s advisers are reportedly pressuring him to use Tesla stock as collateral for new loans to replace Twitter’s debt. The company currently pays 11.75%. on $3 billion of unsecured debt.
Musk’s bankers are reportedly considering whether to replace some of the high-interest debt he has burdened Twitter with a new set of margin loans backed by Tesla stock that he would be responsible for personally repaying, according to Bloomberg News.
Tesla’s board of directors makes no decisions
Tesla’s board has remained silent and made no decisions, infuriating some investors like Leo KoGuan, who tweeted that “Tesla’s board is missing in action,” on Dec. 7. He is one of Tesla’s largest individual shareholders and has called on the company to implement a stock buyback program to boost the stock price and limit the harm to retail investors.
“The market is NOT normal. That is why it is imperative that the board is buying back now. Now means now. Not hypothetical, NEW retail investors bought high and were forced to sell low, not those who they bought Tesla for $4 or less and sold them @ $400,” KoGuan added.
“$15 billion will reduce approximately 75 million floating shares and immediately push above $200 per share.”
He said Dec. 13 in a tweet that the board should protect its shareholders.
“It is no longer about the fundamental Tesla, but about intelligent and powerful Tesla observing the negative poison,” KoGuan tweeted. “We are shareholders, we are accidental war casualties. The board is set up to protect SH. The board members are smart, hopefully doing shock therapy to revive the share price.”
KoGuan’s impatience with Tesla’s stock performance is shared by other shareholders such as Gary Black, who has also asked the board to buy back the shares.
“I 💯 aligned with @koguanleo on a $10 billion stock buyback,” Black posted on Twitter. “The TSLA BOD is not doing well for his SH”. BOD stands for board of directors and SHs stands for shareholders.
Tesla unveiled another round of price cuts in China, adding concerns about near-term demand in the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Tesla also added further discounts to China-based buyers of its Model 3 and Model Y sedans if purchases are completed later this year.
The incentives follow both a price cut unveiled in early October and reports last week that Tesla will reduce production at its key Shanghai factory. The move would mark the first time Tesla has voluntarily lowered production levels since the factory opened in 2018, although covid-19 restrictions and scheduled maintenance reduced production earlier this year.
