A new position can be added to Elon Musk’s resume: holder of a Guinness World Record.
In a release that cited data from Forbes, the organization announced on Friday that Tesla’s “Technoking” made it into the record books thanks to a disastrous 2022 in which his fortune decreased by $182 billion.
Although “the exact figure [of Musk’s loss] is almost impossible to ascertain,” Guinness noted that the Twitter owner shattered the previous record, which stood at: a loss of $58.6 billion in 2000 incurred by Japanese investor Masayoshi Son.
The steep decline of Tesla shares, which lost approximately 65 percent of their value during the company’s worst year ever, was largely to blame for Musk’s diminishing fortune.
He was knocked off his position as the richest man in the world as a result of the loss; the title is now held by luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault.
Naturally, Musk is not the only billionaire whose wealth declined in 2022. According to a previous report from CNBC Make It, American billionaires lost $660 billion as a group last year.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, was able to avoid setting the Guinness World Record due to his declining wealth at 53. If not for Musk, Bezos would have held the title of “largest loss” with his $80 billion loss in 2022.
With his $78 billion loss, fellow tech CEO Mark Zuckerberg also broke Masayoshi Son’s record.
In late 2021, Musk’s wealth was as high as $320 billion. Forbes estimates that his net worth is $142.1 billion as of January 10, making him the No. Gautam Adani of India is the world’s second-richest person, with a fortune of $125.1 billion.
