Elon Musk Losses World's Richest Title Again in March 2023

• Forbes has released its annual billionaire's list, with Elon Musk losing his spot to French billionaire Bernard Arnault
• Musk lost a substantial part of his wealth since his $44 billion (over KSh 5 trillion) takeover of Twitter
• Forbes also revealed that the total number of billionaires in the 2022 list fell to 2,640 (down from 2,668), marking the second-straight year of decline

French billionaire Bernard Arnault has taken over the top spot on Forbes' annual billionaires list, replacing Elon Musk.

Musk held the position for one year after succeeding Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Musk wealth

According to the latest ranking, Musk's net worth is now $180 billion (KSh 23.97 trillion), making him the second richest man in the world.

This is $39 billion (KSh 5.19 trillion) less than his net worth at the beginning of 2022.

Meanwhile, the net worth of Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH, has increased by more than $50 billion (KSh 6.66 trillion) in the past year to reach $211 billion.

In the last few months, Musk and Arnault have switched places a few times on the Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list.

Forbes comment on Elon Musk

The respected magazine noted that Musk’s wealth had fallen because of his $44 billion (KSh 5.86 trillion) Twitter purchase.

The deal funded by Tesla shares scared investors and sent Tesla stocks sinking sharply last year.

Tesla gained much of the losses this year but is still significantly lower than before Musk bought Twitter, CNN reported.

“Elon Musk has mostly tweeted himself out of the top spot on the ranks because Tesla shares are down 50% since his Twitter takeover a year ago," Forbes noted.

The magazine also said SpaceX is a bright spot for Musk since its valuation has increased from $13 billion (KSh 1.73 trillion) to $140 billion (KSh 18.65) over the past year.

As for Arnault, Forbes said the Frenchman had a “banner year” in 2022 because of record-high profits at the luxury conglomerate, which comprises Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Tiffany & Co.

Shares of LVMH have climbed 25% over the past year, and the patriarch has recently unveiled succession plans for his children.

Other billionaires performance

Forbes also said Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost $57 billion (KSh 7.59 trillion), the most money of any billionaire on the list, knocking him down from the second position to third.

The loss can be attributed to Amazon shares losing nearly 40% of their value last year.

Forbes' also revealed that the 2022 list has two absentees from last year.

Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming dropped one spot to No. 26, while Binance founder Changpeng Zhao fell from No. 19 to No. 167 due to the crypto market decline.

List of top 25 richest men in the world and net worth as of March 10, 2023

1. Bernard Arnault & family: $211 Billion
2. Elon Musk: $180 Billion
3. Jeff Bezos: $114 Billion
4. Larry Ellison: $107 Billion
5. Warren Buffett: $106 Billion
6. Bill Gates: $104 Billion
7. Michael Bloomberg: $94.5 Billion
8. Carlos Slim Helú & family: $93 Billion
9. Mukesh Ambani: $83.4 Billion
10. Larry Page: $82.4 Billion
11. Sergey Brin: $81.7 Billion
12. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers & family: $80 Billion
13. Steve Ballmer: $78.2 Billion
14. Amancio Ortega: $75 Billion
15. Jim Walton: $70.7 Billion
16. Alice Walton: $70.3 Billion
17. Rob Walton: $70.2 Billion
18. Mark Zuckerberg: $68.6 Billion
19. Larry Fink: $65.2 Billion
20. Ma Huateng: $64.3 Billion
21. Steve Cohen: $61.9 Billion
22. Michael Dell: $59.6 Billion
23. Colin Huang: $58.9 Billion
24. Gautam Adani: $57.8 Billion
25. Julia Koch & family: $55.8 Billion

Musk puts Twitter value at KSh 2.66t

In March 2023, Musk put the current value of Twitter at $20 billion (KSh 2.66 trillion), less than half the $44 billion (KSh 5.86 trillion) he paid for the social media platform.

Musk sent an email to employees dealing with a new stock compensation program in the San Francisco-based company and the attribution to employees of stock in X Holdings, Twitter's umbrella company since Musk purchased it in late October.

The compensation plan values the platform at $20 billion, slightly more than that of Snap ($18.2 billion), parent company of Snapchat, or of social network and creative website Pinterest ($18.7 billion), both of which, unlike Twitter, are publicly traded.