Elon Musk’s obsession with Twitter, among other factors cost dearly to Tesla investors, who witnessed the worst-ever performance of the stock during the year. Production disruptions and demand worries contributed to the electric car maker’s 65% crash from the start of the year. The market capitalisation of Tesla has slipped by a whopping USD 700 billion in 2022. Tesla’s market capitalisation as of Friday market close stood at USD 385.98 billion.
Musk’s fortune declined with the fate of his car company during the year. He lost over USD 200 billion during the year, becoming the first person in history to lose that kind of money. Musk continues to hold the second position on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks daily changes in the fortune of the world’s wealthiest people, with a ‘personal’ fortune of USD 137 billion. He trails French billionaire Bernard Arnault, who is the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest maker of luxury goods, by USD 25 billion.
The last month of the calendar year 2022 was particularly bad for the world’s most valued auto company as investors dumped its stock fearing demand worries over discounts offered by Tesla to customers to take deliveries before the year-end. Earlier, disruption at its China plant, which contributes most to the company’s volumes added to investor worries.
Analysts worry that demand will continue falling, and the company will not be able to match the market’s expectations of volume growth going ahead.
The plunge marks a stark change from 2021, when Tesla hit an all-time high as the company turned a robust profit, scaled up production amid increasing demand for electric cars. The counter has lost 70% of its value since. In November 2021, Musk’s net worth peaked at USD 340 billion owing to personal holdings in the company.
“Long-term fundamentals are extremely strong. Short-term market madness is unpredictable,” Musk tweeted after the market’s close on Friday, the last trading day of the year.
