Elon Musk richest

Money makes money and these 10 people of the Bloomberg rich list have made a lot of it over the years. And by a lot, we mean a LOT! Image: JIM WATSON / AFP

Elon Musk lost R200 BILLION yesterday – what happened?

Sjoe, that’s A LOT of money. Elon Musk is down bad after a disastrous day – but we don’t need to start a Crowdfunder for him just yet.

Elon Musk richest

Money makes money and these 10 people of the Bloomberg rich list have made a lot of it over the years. And by a lot, we mean a LOT! Image: JIM WATSON / AFP

The richest man in the world saw his net worth fall by a stomach-churning amount on Wednesday, and Elon Musk may only have himself to blame. The Pretoria-born billionaire is now down $12.3 billion, or R197 billion, in the past 24 hours.

Why has Elon Musk lost nearly R200 billion?

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index, Elon Musk – now worth around $210 billion – is still top of the log, and remains an estimated $80 billion clear of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. But no matter how wealthy you are, nobody likes taking an 12-figure hit to their bank account.

After his eventful day, Musk must now take stock of his position. He has been incredibly vocal on Twitter recently, and a blend of political and economical rants have peppered his page. Here’s what has contributed to the turbulence in his fortunes this week:

  • He dramatically announced his political support for the Republicans, branding the governing Democrats as ‘divisive and hateful’.
  • The 50-year-old also slammed the ESG ratings, which assigns a score to companies based on their environmental and social impacts.
  • His electric vehicle company Tesla endured a massive slide in stocks, due to ‘investor concerns’.
  • Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter has apparently unsettled these investors, and some high-rollers doubt he can secure the funding.
  • He’s also being hamstrung by the general performance of global financial markets – with war and inflation being the main culprits.

Republican boost from world’s richest man

Musk also predicted that political attacks ‘will be escalated’ against him, now he’s declared his backing for the Republican Party. It’s unclear what influence this could have on the 2022 mid-terms, but we doubt the ultra-wealthy mogul will be changing his stance any time soon.

“Exxon is rated top ten best in world for environment, social & governance (ESG) by S&P 500, while Tesla didn’t make the list! ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.”

“Political attacks on me will escalate dramatically in coming month. In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division and hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.”

Elon Musk