Twitter owner Elon Musk's net worth has plummeted by more than $200 billion since November 2021 — an amount greater than the fortune of Bernard Arnault, who recently dethroned Musk as the richest man in the world.
The Independent reported on Thursday that Musk — who purchased the dollar-hemorrhaging microblogging platform for $44 billion earlier this year — has lost more money than the gross national product of Greece.
"Musk's net worth peaked at $338bn in November 2021, according to Bloomberg, coinciding with the fortunes of Tesla," the British outlet explained, adding that "the electric car maker has lost roughly 70 percent of its value in 2022 following production delays in China, vehicle recalls, and concerns among investors that its CEO has been distracted by his new role as head of Twitter. Tesla's market cap is down by nearly $900bn since November 2021, causing it to drop out of the top 10 most valuable companies."
Despite this setback — if that term even applies to twelve-figure assets — Musk remains extraordinarily well off. Bloomberg estimates his net worth at $132,000,000,000 — or enough to give around $16 to every human being on Earth.
But Musk, The Independent pointed out, views his riches as a means toward the salvation of modern civilization.
"You should ask why I would want money," Musk stated in 2018. "About half my money is intended to help problems on Earth and half to help establish a self-sustaining city on Mars to ensure the continuation of life (or all species) in case Earth gets hit by a meteor like the dinosaurs or WW3 happens and we destroy ourselves."
Musk also promised to bankroll the eradication of global hunger.
"If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it," he tweeted on Halloween in 2021. "But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent."
The World Food Programme plan would spend $3.5 billion on food and deliver it to those most in need. This includes the cost of shipping, storage and transport by air, road and river, and security escorts to safeguard food distribution in conflict-affected zones. The money could provide one meal per person, per day for a year, keeping tens of millions of people from starvation.
A further $2 billion could fund cash and voucher programs in places with functioning markets, allowing people to choose the food they eat while supporting local economies.
A total $700 million is set aside for 'country-specific costs', such as setting up voucher schemes and building and securing local offices to ensure food assistance reaches the most vulnerable.
Management, administration and accounting for global and regional operations total $400 million, which includes coordinating supply lines, analyzing global hunger levels and appointing independent auditors.
As of May 2022, efforts to convince Musk to "step up" were still ongoing. He did, however, contribute $5.7 billion to an anonymous foundation in late 2021.
"Forbes speculated that this donation likely went to a donor-advised fund (DAF)," Snopes noted on Aprril 26, "which is essentially a holding account for money that will eventually be donated to philanthropic causes."
