Elon Musk loses $26 billion and pole position

Elon Musk set a record last year for one of the fastest streaks of wealth accumulation in history. The story took a sharp turn this week.

Since Monday, the CEO of Tesla Inc. lost $27 billion as the automaker’s shares fell on the sell-off of tech stocks. His net worth of $156.9 billion still puts him second on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, but he is now nearly $20 billion behind Jeff Bezos, who surpassed him last week as the richest person in the world.

Musk’s fall only underscores the incredible speed of his rise. In 2020, Tesla shares soared 743%, increasing the value of its stake and unlocking billions of dollars in options through its historic compensation package called “Moonshot.”

His earnings accelerated into the new year. In January, he ousted Bezos as the richest person in the world. Musk’s fortune peaked later that month at $210 billion, according to the index, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world.

Steady quarterly earnings, the election of  President Joe Biden with his pro-cleantech proposals, and the enthusiasm of retail investors fueled the company’s rise, but for some, its rising valuation was a clear example of unsustainable foam.

The Nasdaq 100 Index fell for the third week in a row on Friday, its longest streak of declines since September.