NEW YORK – Elon Musk’s net worth plunged $16.3 billion (R273.5bn) on Tuesday, the largest single-day wipeout in the history of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as the Tesla rout continued.
The electric-carmaker fell 21 percent in New York trading – the most ever – on news of a partnership between competitors Nikola and General Motors, deepening a selloff that began last week after it was snubbed for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index.
The world’s wealthiest people have seen wild swings in their net worths lately as retail traders accelerate buying and selling in stocks.
Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos lost $7.9bn on Tuesday, while Zhong Shanshan added more than $30bn to his fortune – making him the third-richest person in China – after shares of the bottled-water company he founded surged following an initial public offering.
Shares of Nongfu Spring, whose red-capped bottles are sold across China everywhere from mom-and-pop snack stalls to high-end hotels, jumped 54 percent in its Hong Kong debut, pushing Zhong’s fortune to $50.9bn. After opening lower, the stock was up 3.5 percent.
Musk’s loss and Zhong’s gain are the largest moves in the history of the Bloomberg index, excluding net worth revisions for divorce, redistribution and inheritances.
Musk’s drop would have been even larger if he had not collected his third tranche of options on Tuesday – now worth $2.2bn – tied to his moonshot compensation package.
Musk, who is now worth $82.3bn, fell behind Bernard Arnault for fifth on the list of the world’s richest people.
The Tesla chief executive officer briefly joined the rarefied centibillionaire club last month, thanks to his audacious pay package and a nearly 500 percent rally in Tesla shares from January to the end of August.
BLOOMBERG