Elon Musk briefly loses title of world's richest person


The wealth of Twitter CEO Elon Musk played ping-pong on Wednesday, causing Forbes to report that he had briefly lost the title of the world's richest person.
While Musk had previously been securely on the top of the list, his recent controversies and $44 billion bet on Twitter have caused his net worth to fluctuate. As a result, Forbes reported that Musk was overtaken as the world's richest person on Wednesday morning by Bernard Arnault. The Frenchman is the owner of LVMH, a conglomerate known for luxury subsidiaries like Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Hennessy, and Bulgari.
However, by the afternoon, Musk had reclaimed the title, only to be dethroned again by Arnault minutes later. As of the time of market closings at 4 p.m. ET, Forbes reported that Musk had regained the wealthiest man title, being worth $185.4 billion to Arnault's $184.7 billion.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
With the two men's net worths being so close, though, the outlet said that it "won't be surprising if they continue to flip flop in Forbes' rankings of the world's wealthiest."
The fact that Arnault has now caught up to Musk is a large development for the tech mogul, who earlier this year was reported to be worth more than $270 billion. However, a number of changes made by Musk at Twitter seemed to cause the market to lose confidence in the company, and Musk has said Twitter could even be facing bankruptcy. Forbes also noted that shares of Tesla, the car brand that first made Musk his sizable wealth, are down 50 percent on the year.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.
-
'Wrench attacks' are targeting wealthy crypto moguls
The Explainer The attacks are named for physical coercion that can be used to gain crypto passwords
-
Trump is trying to jump-start US manufacturing. Is it worth it?
Today's Big Question The jobs are good. The workers may not be there.
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
The end of WeightWatchers?
Talking Point The diet brand has filed for bankruptcy in the US as it struggles to survive in era of weight-loss jabs
-
Visa wants to let AI make credit card purchases for you
The Explainer The program will allow you to set a budget and let AI learn from your shopping preferences
-
A newly created gasoline giant in the Americas could change the industry landscape
The Explainer Sunoco and Parkland are two of the biggest fuel suppliers in the US and Canada, respectively
-
How could Tesla replace Elon Musk?
Today's Big Question The company's CEO is its 'greatest asset and gravest risk'