Approximately $650 billion to $700 billion of Elon Musk’s net worth has evaporated over a five-week period as both Tesla and SpaceX stock prices experienced significant declines.
24/7 Wall Street reports that six weeks ago, Elon Musk held the distinction of being the wealthiest person in recorded history. On June 16, shortly after SpaceX completed its IPO, the aerospace company reached a market capitalization of $2.64 trillion, pushing Musk’s wealth on paper to approximately $1.45 trillion. However, by the close of trading on July 23, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index valued his holdings at roughly $738 billion, representing a loss of between $650 billion and $700 billion in just five weeks. Despite this dramatic reduction, Musk remains the world’s wealthiest individual by a substantial margin, maintaining a lead of about $500 billion over the second-richest person, Google co-founder Larry Page.
The decline stems from simultaneous drops in two major holdings in Musk’s portfolio. SpaceX’s stock performance following its record-breaking IPO has been particularly notable. After debuting as the largest initial public offering in history, SpaceX shares initially traded well above the offering price, driving the company’s valuation past $2.6 trillion within days. From the June 16 peak through July 23, SpaceX stock fell 41.4 percent, dropping from $201.80 to $118.24 per share. The company’s market capitalization declined to $895.24 billion, erasing more than $1 trillion in market value.
Several factors contributed to SpaceX’s decline. A delayed Starship launch on July 16 negatively impacted the stock during extended trading hours. The initial post-IPO enthusiasm began to fade, and a broader market reassessment of valuations for companies linked to AI affected trading. By July 21, SpaceX briefly traded below $120 per share, dipping beneath its IPO price after seven consecutive down sessions. According to discussions on retail investment forums, short sellers reportedly booked $15.5 billion in profits during the stock’s decline.
Tesla provided the second major component of Musk’s wealth reduction. On July 22, after market close, Tesla reported second-quarter revenue of $28.24 billion, exceeding estimates by 7.10 percent, along with record deliveries of 480,126 vehicles. However, the company’s profitability metrics fell short of expectations. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $0.33, compared to analyst consensus of $0.5367, representing a miss of 38.5 percent.
The significant increase in operating expenses, up 47 percent year-over-year to $4.35 billion, reflects Tesla’s substantial investments in AI, robotaxi development, the Optimus robot project, and Dojo computing infrastructure, in addition to stock-based compensation connected to Musk’s CEO performance award. Tesla shares closed at $319.69 on July 23, down 14.5 percent for the day, and a 28.9 percent drop year-to-date.
Read more at 24/7 Wall Street here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.