The net worth of billionaire Elon Musk continues to plummet, exceeding the amount of money that both Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have lost in 2022.
As shares of Tesla (TSLA), the electric car company where he serves as CEO, also declines, Musk has seen 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, has lost $23.5 billion of his net worth while Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon AMZN, has seen his fortune decline by $78.6 billion. The two tech tycoons have lost a combined $102.1 billion.
Musk's net worth now stands at $168 billion while Gates is worth $115 billion and Bezos has a fortune of $114 billion.
Warren Buffet, CEO of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), has only lost $690 million and is worth $108 billion.
Tesla Shares Tank
Shares of Tesla have tanked by 17.6% during the past month and 51.16% in the past year and was trading at $161 on Dec. 13 at last check as Musk continues to focus his attention on Twitter, the social media network that he purchased for $44 billion in October.
Since the acquisition to take Twitter private, Musk's attention has been diverted from Tesla. His competitors, such as like China's BYD, are gaining ground and more market share.
Investors are becoming weary and want to see some action to turnaround the stock's performance.
The EV company's market cap has fallen drastically from nearly $1 trillion on Jan. 26 to a mere $482.89 billion as of Dec. 13.
Musk was forced to sell shares of Tesla and use margin loans to finance the buyout of Twitter.
It appears that the CEO of Tesla has abandoned the company currently and is focused on engaging in attacks on Twitter publicly with advertisers who make up over 90% of its revenue, its users, employees and other well-known people.
His latest attacks against Yoel Roth. the former head of trust and safety for Twitter, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, are only likely to deter advertisers from returning to the website.
The company restarted its Twitter Blue subscription service on Dec. 12 in an effort to ramp up revenue. The service allows anyone that pays a fee each month to receive the infamous blue checkmark, edit their tweets and upload video that is high quality.
Musk's advisers are reportedly pressuring him to use Tesla shares as the collateral for new loans to replace Twitter's debt. The company currently pays 11.75%. on $3 billion of unsecured debt.
The bankers for Musk are reportedly evaluating whether to replace some of the high-interest debt he burdened onto Twitter with a new set of margin loans backed by Tesla stock that he would be responsible for paying back personally, according to Bloomberg News.
Tesla's Board Not Making Decisions
Tesla's board has remained mum and has made no decisions, infuriating some investors such as Leo KoGuan, who tweeted that "Tesla board is missing in action," on Dec. 7. He is one of Tesla's largest individual shareholders and called on the company to carry out a share buyback program to boost the share price and limit the damage to retail investors.
"The market is NOT normal. That is why it is imperative the board is doing the buyback now. Now means now. Not hypothetical, NEW retail investors bought high and forced to sell low, not those who bought Tesla @$4 or less and sold them @$400," KoGuan added.
"$15B will reduce about 75 million free floating shares and push above $200 per share immediately."
He said on Dec. 13 in a tweet that the board should protect its shareholders.
"No longer about fundamental of Tesla but smart and powerful negative poison gazing Tesla," KoGuan tweeted. "We are shareholders are accidental war casualties The board is established to protect SH. The board members are smart, hopefully they will perform shock therapy to resuscitate stock price."
KoGuan's impatience with Tesla's stock performance is shared by other shareholders such as Gary Black, who is also calling on the board to repurchase the shares.
"I am 💯aligned with @koguanleo on a $10B share buybacks," Black posted on Twitter. "The TSLA BOD is not doing right for its SHs." BOD stands for board of directors and SHs is for shareholders.
Tesla unveiled another round of price cuts in China, adding to concerns over near-term demand in the world's biggest EV market. Tesla also has added more discounts to China-based buyers of its Model 3 and Model Y sedans if the purchases are completed by the end of the year.
The incentives follow both a price cut unveiled in early October and reports last week that Tesla will reduce output at its key Shanghai factory. The move would mark the first time Tesla has voluntarily lowered output levels since the factory was opened in 2018, although covid-19 restrictions and scheduled maintenance clipped production earlier this year.
