Elon Musk Nears World’s Richest Title Again

Elon Musk is closing in on recapturing his title as the world’s richest person since falling behind Bernard Arnault in December, thanks to Tesla Inc.’s 70% rise this year.

By:BLOOMBERG
| Updated on: Feb 16 2023, 07:11 IST
Elon Musk Twitter Bankruptcy Talk: Timeline
Elon Musk
1/13 He’s told employees to brace themselves for long hours, that “the road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed,” and said bankruptcy was possible. Here’s how the saga is unfolding: (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk
2/13 Oct. 27: Musk takes control- His first act is to fire the Board along with CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, head of legal Vijaya Gadde and Counsel Sean Edgett. Musk forms advisory team that includes celebrity attorney Alex Spiro, VC David Sacks, Neuralink CEO and head of Musk’s family office Jared Birchall, investor Jason Calacanis, and partner of Andreessen Horowitz Sriram Krishnan. (Reuters)
Elon Musk
3/13 Oct. 28: Brands begin to take pause- As Musk plans to unban accounts and says he will charge for user verification, advertisers suspend ads. (AFP)
Elon Musk
4/13 Oct. 31: Top tweeters protest- Amid murmurings of plans to charge existing verified accounts, author Steven King tweets, “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F**k that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.” (AFP)
Elon Musk
5/13 Nov. 1: Teams working around the clock- The product team works over the weekend on Musk’s idea to charge users for blue check marks. A photo of product director Esther Crawford sleeping on the floor of a conference room, trying to make the deadline, goes viral. Meanwhile, managers are asked to make lists of who can be fired. Employees print out their software code for review by Musk and engineers from Tesla, to determine if their contributions are worthy of keeping a job. (REUTERS)
Elon Musk
6/13 Nov. 3: Massive layoffs begin- A memo is sent to all employees telling them of imminent layoffs and to watch for an email with the subject line: “Your Role at Twitter.” Badge access to offices is suspended as 3,700 staffers receive word that they’ve been cut. Realizing employees essential for the continuity of the business have been let go by mistake, some are asked to come back. (AP)
Elon Musk
7/13 Co-founder EV Williams tweets, “Heart’s out to the tweeps getting laid off today.” Co-founder Jack Dorsey adds, “I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that.” (REUTERS)
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8/13 Nov. 5-6: Musk responds to celebrity protests- Unrest grows on the platform over the weekend, particularly over the issue of impersonator accounts. Actress Valerie Bertinelli starts a movement of people changing their Twitter names to “Elon Musk.” Comedian Kathy Griffin joins the protest, finds her account locked. Then Musk announces, “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying `parody’ will be permanently suspended.” (AP)
Elon Musk
9/13 Nov. 8: Musk sells more Tesla- Despite a previous vow not to sell any more Tesla stock, Musk sells an additional $3.95 billion, bringing the total sold in past year to $36 billion. (REUTERS)
Elon Musk
10/13 Nov. 9: Musk Blue tick mark- Blue check mark option becomes available for purchase, and immediately becomes a tool for impersonators. An account masquerading as Nintendo Inc. posts an image of Super Mario holding up a middle finger. (REUTERS)
Elon Musk
11/13 Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and a close cadre of advisers are considering a host of changes to the way Twitter is run and makes money. (REUTERS)
Elon Musk
12/13 Nov. 10: More key executives quit as Musk warns of bankruptcy- In his first meeting with employees, Musk tells them to brace for 80-hour weeks and requires everyone back in the office full time. He also says bankruptcy for the company is not out of the question if it doesn’t start generating more cash. Several executives in charge of keeping Twitter safe and accountable to its users quit, including chief information security officer Lea Kissner, chief privacy officer Damien Kieran and chief compliance Marianne Fogarty.. (AFP)
Elon Musk
13/13 Nov. 11: Verified accounts get “Official” tags- Twitter adds badges that say “offiical” to verified accounts in some places, though confusion abounds. More brands depart the platform. (REUTERS)
Elon Musk
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Elon Musk is slowly reaching close to becoming the richest person in the world, but it may take some time before he can do so. (via REUTERS)

Elon Musk is closing in on recapturing his title as the world's richest person since falling behind Bernard Arnault in December, thanks to Tesla Inc.'s 70% rise this year.

It may take a bit longer for Musk to overtake the French luxury-goods titan, though, after disclosing this week he gave 11.6 million Tesla shares to unnamed charitable causes between August and December. The stock was worth about $1.9 billion, based on closing prices on the days Musk donated the securities.

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The disclosure comes as Musk, 51, has narrowed the gap to Arnault to less than $10 billion amid signs of growing demand for Tesla's electric vehicles.

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He now has a fortune of about $184 billion after his latest donation, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That's down from a peak of more than $300 billion in late 2021 before he decided to buy Twitter in a leveraged buyout near the peak of the tech market, but up more almost $50 billion this year.

Musk, Tesla's chief executive officer and biggest individual shareholder, previously donated shares in the company in 2021 worth about $5.7 billion, making it at the time one of the largest philanthropic donations in history.

The recipient for the donation was later revealed as the Musk Foundation, which has recently provided funds to education and carbon-removal projects as well as nonprofits in the area around Brownsville, Texas, close to his SpaceX spaceport.

The 2021 gift dramatically increased the size of the foundation, which moved from California to Texas during the pandemic.

Pandemic Move

The boost in the organization's assets means Musk will have to become more active philanthropically. Private foundations in the US must spend 5% of assets for charitable purposes each year. In 2021, Musk sent about $160 million to nonprofits, by far the most he'd donated from his organization in a calendar year.

Yet despite being one of the biggest foundations in the country, Musk's charitable arm is still tiny in terms of staff. Its most recent tax forms list Musk, right-hand man Jared Birchall and Matilda Simon as directors. There are no other employees listed.

Birchall didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The largest US foundation is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which had assets of about $55 billion at the end of 2021, gave out about $6.2 billion in grants that year and has more than 1,700 employees.

Much of Musk's wealth is still tied up in Tesla stock, though SpaceX has made up a bigger share in recent years. Musk sold more than $20 billion of Tesla stock last year as he tried to shore up his buyout of Twitter.

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First Published Date: 16 Feb, 07:10 IST
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