Benzinga | May 18, 2021 11:40AM EDT

Elon Musk Slips From Second Position In The Rich List As Tesla Shares Continue To Slump

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has lost his spot as the world's second-richest person in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

What Happened: Musk, the technoking and master of coin at Tesla, has seen his financial fortune slip as shares of the electric vehicle maker extended losses over the previous week on Monday, dropping 2.2% lower.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (OTC:LVMUY) Chairman Bernard Arnault passed Musk on the Bloomberg rich list, with a net worth of $161 billion.

See also: How to Invest in Tesla Stock

Musk now has a fortune of $160.6 billion, down 24% from its January high. The serial entrepreneur's fortune has dropped about $9.1 billion this year, the most among U.S. billionaires, as per Bloomberg.

Musk, whose Twitter posts are closely followed by investors, media and fans, last week took to Twitter to announce Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin payments over concerns of the cryptocurrency's environmental impact.

The automaker began accepting Bitcoin in March after earlier purchasing $1.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency in February. Musk later clarified that the electric vehicle company had not sold any Bitcoin.

Tesla's nearly 750% jump in stock price last year helped balloon Musk's wealth, making him the richest person in the world this January, ahead of Amazon.com Inc's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Jeff Bezos -- although not for long.

Why It Matters: Despite reporting record first-quarter profit, the Palo Alto, California-based company's shares have since fallen by about a fifth amid a global semiconductor shortage, increasing competition from traditional automakers and EV startups, and regulatory concerns in China weighing on investor sentiments.

Musk, who does not draw a salary from Tesla, is set to mint billions if Tesla stock hits ambitious market capitalization and operational milestones.

He gets to add stock equal to 1% of outstanding Tesla shares every time certain milestones are hit and there are 12 such tranches, or milestones, outlined in his package, six of which have already been unlocked.

Price Action: Tesla shares, which have fallen 18% year-to-date, closed 2.19% lower at $576.83 and were down 0.85% in extended hours.

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