Elon Musk’s position as the world’s richest man has come to an end after two month, after shares in Tesla fell by 8.6 percent on Monday.

That 8.6 percent fall in Tesla’s share price wiped $15.2bn (£10.8bn) off the personal fortune of Elon Musk. On Tuesday Tesla’s shares were down a further 6 percent in pre-market trading.

The share price fell after the Tesla CEO tweeted that the current bitcoin price and other crypto currencies ‘seems high’.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos

World’s richest

Elon Musk had in early January 2021, become the world’s richest man thanks to a staggering 743 percent rise in Tesla’s share price during 2020.

That share price rise saw Musk overtaking the likes Mark Zuckerberg, and then Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and then Jeff Bezos, to become the second richest man in the world.

But now over two months of holding the world’s richest crown, Jeff Bezos has now reclaimed the title of the world’s wealthiest person.

Musk’s has dropped back into second place with a $183bn estimated fortune, behind Bezos’ $186.3bn.

Musk’s comments about bitcoin came after he endorsed the digital currency.

Earlier this month Tesla disclosed in its annual financial results filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that it had purchased $1.5bn (£1.1bn) in bitcoin.

And the world’s most valuable car maker said that it may soon accept payment in the cryptocurrency for new electric cars.

Bitcoin value

And bitcoin has been surging until recently.

In the middle of this month the digital currency hit a record high of $50,602, before going on to reach $55,000.

Then last Friday the virtual currency reached a milestone $1 trillion (£710m) market capitalisation during its latest rally.

Bitcoin reached a high of $58,000 on Sunday, but on Tuesday morning had fallen to $47,500.

However it worth remembering that this price is still up more than 500 percent over the past year.

Tom Jowitt

Tom Jowitt is a leading British tech freelancer and long standing contributor to Silicon UK. He is also a bit of a Lord of the Rings nut...

Recent Posts

Ericsson To Cut 1,200 Jobs in Sweden Amid ‘Challenging’ Market

Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson blamed “challenging mobile networks market” and “further volume contraction” for job…

21 hours ago

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison For $8bn Fraud

Dramatic downfall. Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for masterminding $8bn fraud that…

22 hours ago

Elon Musk Orders FSD Demo For Every Tesla US Sale

Fallout avoidance? Tesla buyers in the US must be shown how to use the FSD…

22 hours ago

Amazon Pumps Another $2.75 Billion Into Anthropic

Amazon completes its $4bn investment into AI firm Anthropic, after providing an additional $2.75bn in…

1 day ago

The Sustainability of AI

While AI promises unparalleled efficiency, productivity, and innovation, questions regarding its environmental impact loom large.…

1 day ago