Musk's net worth dropped from $330 billion on Sunday to $301 billion by Monday evening, marking a 6.7% decrease.
Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest individual, has experienced a major setback in his fortune. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth was $330 billion on Sunday but dropped to $301 billion by Monday evening, reflecting a 6.7% decrease. On Monday alone, Musk's wealth took a dramatic $29 billion hit. Since reaching a peak of $486 billion in December 2024, his net worth has fallen by $132 billion this year.
The primary factor behind this decline is Tesla's struggling stock performance and decreasing sales, further impacted by Musk's new role as head of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The company has seen significant drops in sales, with orders in Germany down 70% and shipments in China falling by 49%.
Tesla's stock price mirrored this decline, closing at $222.15 on the Nasdaq on Monday, March 10, down 15.43% or $40.52 from its previous value. This marked the steepest single-day drop since September 2020, when the stock plummeted 21.1% to $110. The sharp decrease was part of a broader market downturn, with the Nasdaq 100 falling 4% and the S&P 500 dropping 3%. Concerns over a potential economic slowdown, triggered by the Trump Administration’s tariff policies, led to a widespread selloff in US stock markets.
Despite the dip, Elon Musk remained optimistic about Tesla's future. In response to a tweet about the company's falling share price, Musk reassured followers, saying, "It will be fine in the long term."
At the same time, Musk's involvement in politics and government continues to make headlines, with his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency drawing both praise and criticism. His companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, and X, are facing challenges such as lawsuits and increased regulatory scrutiny. In a recent Fox News interview, Musk acknowledged the difficulties of managing his companies while working for the Trump administration, calling it a challenging balancing act.
X, Elon Musk's social media platform, experienced a major outage on Monday, with tens of thousands of users reporting issues on Website DownDetector. Musk attributed the disruption to a large-scale cyberattack.
Musk took to the platform to provide an explanation, saying, "There was (and still is) a massive cyberattack against X. We get attacked every day, but this one involved a lot of resources. It seems like either a large, coordinated group or a country is behind it."
In addition to this, SpaceX's Starship rocket program faced another setback, with the first two launches failing. The most recent incident, which occurred on Thursday, scattered debris over a wide area, causing flight disruptions. The initial explosion in January also left debris scattered as far as the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Despite these setbacks, Elon Musk minimized the impact of the failures. Posting a photo of himself examining debris from a previous rocket failure, Musk tweeted, "Today was a minor setback." He stressed that progress is measured over time, and the next Starship is expected to be ready for launch in just 4 to 6 weeks.