Elon Musk is dethroned from top spot on Forbes' billionaire list

Elon Musk is dethroned from top spot on Forbes’ annual billionaire list by Frenchman Bernard Arnault who owns companies like Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior

• Elon Musk earned the number one spot on Forbes World Billionaires list last year
• He fell to second place this year after buying Twitter for $44billion
• Musk’s net worth fell to just $180billion in 2022, $39billion less than it was last year, as Arnault’s wealth grew more than $50billion to $211billion

Elon Musk has been dethroned from the top spot of Forbes’ annual billionaire list following his decision to purchase Twitter for $44billion.

He had earned the number one spot on Forbes World Billionaires list last year, when he had an estimated net worth of $216billion, overthrowing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

But Musk, 51, is now just the second richest billionaire in the world, falling to Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH — which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co.

The two had been trading places on the outlet’s daily Real-Time Billionaires list over the past few months, CNN reports, but Arnault was able to supersede Musk in the annual list after his net worth grew more than $50billion to $211billion.

At the same time, Musk’s net worth fell to just $180billion — $39billion less than it was last year, according to Forbes’ calculations. 

Tesla founder Elon Musk lost the top spot on Forbes’ annual list of billionaires due to his $44billion purchase of Twitter. He was superseded by Frenchman Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH — which owns brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Tiffany & Co.

Tesla shares plummeted 50 percent over the past year after Musk leveraged shares to buy Twitter in October

At the same time, LVMH stock increased 35 percent over the past year

The outlet explains that Musk’s standing plummeted after he purchased Twitter for $44billion — funded by Tesla shares.

Investors in the electric car giant worried at the time about its share value plummeting as Musk took over the social media giant.

Tesla eventually gained back much of its losses, but is still selling at about half of what it was before Musk took over Twitter in October.

‘Musk has mostly tweeted himself out of the top spot on the ranks,’ Forbes writes, apparently referring to his controversial tweets about Twitter’s actual value and subsequent decisions to change the company.

He was able to keep much of his wealth, however, as SpaceX valuation increased from $13billion to $140billion in just the past year.

Still, that proved to not be enough to compete with Arnault, 74, who had a ‘banner year’ in 2022 due to record-high profits at his conglomerate.

The Frenchman first appeared on Forbes’ billionaires list in 1997, when he was worth just $3.6billion.

But as revenues grew at the more than 70 luxury brands he owns, Arnault was able to vault into the top 20 richest people by 2005, when he was worth $17billion.

For the past three years, Forbes reports, he has been trailing Musk and Bezos in third place on the World Billionaire’s list, but he was able to surpass his competitors in 2022 when shares of LVMH climbed 35 percent and he pulled  in revenues of $21.7billion — or €20billion.

Arnault is now planning his succession, proposing a reorganization of his holding company, Agache — which holds the bulk of his stock — to give equal shares to his five children. 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was knocked to the third position on the list after losing $57billion

Among those who were kicked off the list this year are embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who lost 94 percent of his wealth in just one day, and Kanye West, who lost many of his sponsors after he went on an anti-Semitic tirade

Despite Arnault’s success, Forbes reports that it was a difficult year for many of the world’s billionaires as the total number of billionaires on the list fell for a second straight year from 2,668 to 2,640.

Among those who were kicked off the list were Kanye West, who lost much of his sponsorships after tweeting anti-Semitic remarks, and embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who infamously lost 94 percent of his wealth in just one day.

But among those who are still billionaires, Forbes reports, none lost as much money as Bezos, who is $57billion poorer than he was a year ago thanks to a 38 percent decline in Amazon stock.

Bezos is now just in the third position on the list, with an estimated net worth of $114billion.

‘It’s been another rare down year for the planet’s richest people,’ Chase Peterson-Withorn, Forbes’ senior editor of wealth said in a statement.

‘Nearly half the list is poorer than they were 12 months ago, but a lucky few or billions — or even tens of billions of dollars richer.’

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