Elon Musk is again named the richest man in the world

Tesla CEO regains lost first billionaire title

Billionaire Elon Musk has regained the title of the richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg estimates. His fortune exceeded $187 billion.

Tesla’s CEO was ousted from the top spot by Bernard Arnault, CEO of French luxury brand LVMH, last December, sending Elon Musk to the No. 2 position on the list for more than two months. However, as of Monday, Bloomberg reports that Tesla’s stock rally has returned Musk to the top of his real-time Billionaires Index, according to CNN.

As of Monday, after the markets closed, Elon Musk was worth about $187.1 billion, according to Bloomberg, only slightly more than Bernard Arnault’s $185.3 billion.

While Tesla shares plunged last year amid Musk’s troubled acquisition of Twitter and a broader tech market downturn, the electric car maker’s shares have since surged in 2023.

Elon Musk may be the richest person in the world right now, but he also holds the record for the largest fortune ever lost by anyone in history. Late last year, Musk became the first person ever to lose a $200 billion fortune – after his net worth dropped from around $340 billion in November 2021 to $137 billion in December 2022.

Meanwhile, according to the report, Elon Musk fired another 200 Twitter employees, including the executive behind the upgrade of his paid premium service, according to The Guardian. The latest round of layoffs represents about 10% of Twitter’s vastly reduced workforce, which stood at 7,500 before Musk bought the company in October.

According to the New York Times, Twitter laid off at least 200 employees on Saturday. The cuts have affected jobs, including product managers, data scientists and engineers who keep the site running efficiently, according to the NYT. Esther Crawford, director of product management for Twitter, who oversaw the introduction of account verification fees, was reportedly among the employees affected. Musk’s tough approach to management was demonstrated in November with a photo of Crawford sleeping on the floor of her Twitter office, which she retweeted with the hashtag #SleepWhereYouWork.

The job loss comes amid financial uncertainty at Twitter, a company that has historically been unprofitable and has struggled to generate the cash flow needed to pay off the massive debt it inherited after the $44 billion takeover by Musk.