Bloomberg: Musk's net worth plummets below $400 billion as Tesla’s decline continues

Elon Musk's net worth dropped below $400 billion for the first time in two months, primarily due to a significant dip in Tesla Inc.'s stock price.

Tesla’s shares have fallen 27% since reaching a record high in mid-December, which had been fueled by optimism that Musk's connections to President Donald Trump could boost the company's prospects.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Tesla shares and options still account for over 60% of Musk's wealth, which peaked at $486.4 billion on December 17 following Trump’s election, Caliber.Az reports.

Last week, Tesla experienced its worst performance since early October, with shares dropping 11% after reporting disappointing monthly sales. Deliveries in Germany plunged 59%, marking the lowest level since 2021, while sales in China fell by 11.5% due to increasing competition from the regional rival BYD Co. Tesla’s shares continued their decline on Monday, dropping 3% to $350.73, marking a fourth consecutive day of losses in New York trading.

Musk’s political reinvention played a significant role in Tesla’s stock surge post-election. Since President Trump took office, the 53-year-old billionaire has focused much of his efforts on Washington, directing cost-cutting measures at DOGE, gutting USAID, examining the Treasury Department’s internal payments data, and leading an initiative to shrink the federal workforce by offering workers eight months’ pay in exchange for voluntary resignations.

Despite Musk’s political involvement, investors’ expectations that Trump’s administration would provide favorable changes to electric vehicle tax subsidies and establish formal self-driving technology standards have yet to come to fruition.

Musk has repeatedly emphasized full self-driving autonomy as “the true value” of Tesla, but analysts from Robert W. Baird noted in a February 4 report that they have become “more tepid” about the robotaxi business after the company removed its volume guidance during its fourth-quarter earnings report.

Though Tesla remains the largest contributor to Musk's $394.6 billion net worth, its recent decline has resulted in a smaller portion of his fortune coming from the automaker. Musk’s 42% stake in SpaceX is currently valued at $136 billion, nearly equal to the current value of his Tesla holdings.

Additionally, Musk is leading a group of investors in an unsolicited bid to acquire OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, for nearly $95 billion. However, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman rejected the offer in a post on Musk's X social media platform.

By Tamilla Hasanova