Elon Musk is no longer a trillionaire after a sharp decline in SpaceX shares wiped US$59 billion (about Sh7.6 trillion) from his fortune, according to Forbes.
The world's richest person is now worth US$994.1 billion (about Sh128.2 trillion), falling below the $1 trillion mark after SpaceX stock dropped 6.2 per cent during Wednesday's trading.
The decline reverses gains the company had made over the previous three trading sessions and marks another bout of volatility for the aerospace giant following its historic public listing.
According to Forbes, Musk's wealth is largely tied to his holdings of 4.8 billion SpaceX shares and 350 million stock options, making the company's share price a major driver of his personal fortune.
Despite slipping below the trillion-dollar threshold, Musk remains comfortably the world's richest individual.
The world's five richest people
According to the latest Forbes Real-Time Billionaires rankings:
Elon Musk – $994.1 billion (about Sh128.2 trillion)
Larry Page – $292.7 billion (about Sh37.8 trillion)
Sergey Brin – $270 billion (about Sh34.8 trillion)
Jeff Bezos – $230 billion (about Sh29.7 trillion)
Mark Zuckerberg – $212.6 billion (about Sh27.4 trillion).
The rankings show Musk's fortune is still more than three times larger than that of his closest rival, Google co-founder Larry Page.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg added $19.1 billion (about Sh2.5 trillion) to his wealth in a single day after Meta shares surged more than 10% following reports that the company is exploring a cloud infrastructure business to compete with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Analysts remain optimistic
The sell-off came even as investment firm Wedbush Securities initiated coverage of SpaceX with a US$190 share price target.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives described SpaceX as "one of the most differentiated assets within the technology market," saying the company is well-positioned to become a major player in satellite connectivity, commercial rocket launches and AI infrastructure.
Fortune has swung wildly
Musk's wealth has fluctuated dramatically since SpaceX's blockbuster initial public offering.
His net worth briefly climbed to US$1.45 trillion (about Sh187 trillion) shortly after the listing before declining as SpaceX shares retreated.
Forbes also reduced its valuation of Musk's fortune after excluding US$116 billion (about Sh15 trillion) worth of restricted Tesla shares following changes to his CEO compensation package.
Although Musk has temporarily lost his trillionaire title, he continues to hold a commanding lead as the world's richest person, with a fortune that far exceeds every other billionaire on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List.
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