--- title: "Elon Musk Has Lost $100 Billion in Under a Year" description: "What Last year, having reached a net worth of roughly $320.3 billion dollars, Elon Musk was crowned the world's richest person in history. Fast forward a year, a \"bad feeling\" about the economy, a sudden, complicated, and likely soiled bid to buy Twitter, and a self-imposed foray into social media foreign policy, and according to […]" date: "2022-10-25" modified: "2022-10-25" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-lost-100-billion" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon" - "elon musk" - "Musk" - "wealth" --- # Elon Musk Has Lost $100 Billion in Under a Year ![Last year, Elon Musk was crowned the world's richest person in history. Fast forward a year later, and $100 billion of his historic net worth has vanished.]() *\Image: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images\* Last year, as his net worth soared past $300 billion dollars, Elon Musk was crowned the world's [richest person in history](). Fast forward about 11 months — involving a "[bad feeling]()" about the economy, a sudden, complicated, and likely soiled [bid to buy Twitter](), and a [self-imposed foray]() into social media foreign policy — and [according to *Forbes*](), over $100 billion of that historic net worth has effectively vanished. As of Thursday, Musk's net worth is down to around $209.4 billion, in a 35 percent year-over decrease. Don't get us wrong. Musk's wealth is still so unfathomably vast that even after losing that $100 billion, he's still the world's richest person. Still, that's a lot of money to lose, especially as far as it can be attributed to the founder's chaotic personal antics: [secret babies]() with employees, [escalating US-Russia tensions]() over the war in Ukraine [with a Twitter poll](). That being said, though, [one could argue]() that Musk would never have become who he is — and with that, how wealthy he is — today if not for his deeply chaotic online presence. His use of Twitter to rile and agitate has no doubt contributed to his cultural relevance, and alongside that relevance, [investors and fans alike]() have followed. Or it did, at least. These new numbers tell a different story, and they likely have a lot to do with Musk's maybe-failed deal to buy Twitter. He can't put up the money alone, and at least one of his outside investors has [very publicly stated]() that they and others want out. (As a partial result of that bungled deal, the founder may soon be up for a [national security review](). So there's that, too.) "The problem for Tesla investors is that more stock sales are likely by Musk to fund \[the Twitter\] deal," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told *Forbes*, "which we believe will go down as one of the worst, most overpaid M&A deals in the history of the market." But drama aside, his actual companies have faced more, uh, normal difficulties. The economy is hurting everyone, for starters. And earlier in the year, the CEO quipped that due to supply chain woes, [his Tesla gigafactories]() should have sounded "like a giant roaring sound which \[was\] the sound of money on fire." Of course, [government recall investigations]() might have had something to do with those money troubles, too. At the end of the day, Musk is [still richer]() than one Jeff Bezos, so we're [sure he's pleased about that](). In any case, it's unlikely that the world's still-richest man will change his controversial ways anytime soon — after all, he's clearly not that worried about what those ways might do to his own savings. The jury's still out on whether his investors will continue to trust him with theirs, though. **READ MORE:** *[Elon Musk's Fortune Has Fallen By More Than $100 Billion In Less Than A Year]()* \[*Forbes*\] **More on Musk:** *[Former Tesla Exec Says Elon Musk Can Be like a "Toddler" Having a "Tantrum"]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()