Has Elon Musk fallen from his pedestal? His net worth has rapidly contracted, with $340 billion evaporating over eight days, stripping him of his trillionaire status. Tesla Motors (TSLA) shares are showing weakness, while SpaceX's stock has experienced massive volatility.
The world's first trillionaire held the title for less than two weeks before his fortune dramatically declined.
As of June 24th, Elon Musk's net worth has fallen below the one-trillion-dollar mark. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his current fortune stands at $957 billion, a significant drop of $340 billion from its peak of $1.3 trillion just eight days prior. However, his diminished wealth still places him far ahead of others on the global rich list.
SpaceX's Dramatic Decline
Multiple reports indicate that a confluence of negative factors, including soaring U.S. Treasury yields and the company's own aggressive financing, led to a sharp plunge in SpaceX shares over just a few trading sessions. The stock plummeted 16.4% on Monday, wiping out approximately $400 billion in market value during the session and marking the second-largest single-day market cap loss in U.S. stock market history. After three consecutive days of heavy losses, SpaceX's total market value has evaporated by over $600 billion. The stock closed around $156 on Tuesday, a drop of more than 30% from its intraday peak of $225 on June 16.
Public Criticism from a Fellow Billionaire
On June 23rd, SoftBank Group founder and Asia's richest man, Masayoshi Son, publicly expressed skepticism about SpaceX. Speaking at the annual shareholders' meeting of his telecom subsidiary, SoftBank Mobile, Son poured cold water on Elon Musk's vision for space-based data centers. He argued that while the concept might seem to lower power costs through solar energy and the space environment, its overall economic viability is far inferior to terrestrial solutions, making it a poor trade-off.
Tesla Shares Under Pressure
Simultaneously, Tesla Motors (TSLA) shares have shown recent weakness, falling over 5% on the 23rd and declining more than 12% for the month.
Musk's Massive Stock Award
A recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk vested his 2018 compensation package on June 16th. This resulted in a net gain of approximately 286 million Tesla shares for Musk, representing a paper profit of about $116 billion.
The filing details that Musk exercised options for 304 million shares at a split-adjusted strike price of $23.34 per share. With Tesla's closing price at $404.66 on June 16th, the price difference of $381.32 per share translated to a paper gain of roughly $116 billion on that single transaction.
In accordance with the implementation agreement, the transaction was settled on a "net basis." Tesla withheld 175.319 million shares (valued at approximately $7.1 billion) to cover the exercise cost, meaning Musk netted about 286 million shares. It is important to note that these shares are restricted stock, subject to service period requirements. Musk is expected to be able to sell these shares in 2028.
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