How much money did Elon Musk lose in history’s largest ever personal fortune loss?

Billionaire Elon Musk has broke an unwanted record by becoming the person who has undisputedly lost the biggest fortune in history.

2022 was a far from straightforward year for the Tesla and Twitter CEO. Tesla’s share price continued to fall throughout the year, and his acquisition of Twitter has hardly gone to plan.

Installing fees for ‘blue ticks’ on Twitter has received much criticism, as has his decision to dissolve Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council. Both have prompted a host of famous faces to leave the platform.

And this year hasn’t started any better for Musk who himself said on December 30, 2022 that “short-term market madness is unpredictable.”

According to a Guinness World Records report, Musk lost approximately $182 billion (£153 billion) since November 2021. However, some sources suggest this figure is closer to $200 billion.

Those loses far surpass the previous record set by a Japanese tech investor - Masayoshi Son - who lost $58.6 billion in 2000.

Son's net worth declined from a peak of $78 billion in February 2000 to $19.4 billion in July of that year. The value of his tech conglomerate, Softbank, was wiped out by the dot-com crash.

Musk’s net worth is thought to have dropped from a peak of $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion as of January 2023. Much of that is thought to be due to the dwindling value of Tesla stock.

However, his $44 billion purchase of Twitter last year is thought to have accelerated his losses.

Despite the plunge in value, Tesla still remains the most valuable car company in the world with a market cap over $100 billion larger than Toyota - the company's closest competitor.

The loss of Musk’s wealth comes after he was also replaced as the world’s richest man in December 2022 by Bernard Arnault, chief executive of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton).

Estimates this month by Forbes put Arnault’s wealth at $203.7 billion, while Musk’s stands at $146.5 billion.