Despite the back-and-forth battle between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for the title of the world’s second-richest person, Bernard Arnault still holds the crown as the richest person in the world with a net worth of $205.9 billion. Bezos, who briefly surpassed Musk to reclaim the second spot, saw his net worth climb to $201.5 billion, driven by a $511 million surge in just one day. Meanwhile, Musk’s net worth stands at $198.4 billion, putting him solidly in third place after a drop in Tesla shares.
Bezos’ rise to the second spot on the billionaire list comes on the heels of a series of net worth flip-flops between him and Musk, with the two billionaires swapping positions 13 times in the month of March alone. Bezos, who also owns Blue Origin and The Washington Post, stepped down as the CEO of Amazon in 2021 but still retains roughly 10% of the company, which has seen a 21% rise in stock year-to-date. Musk, on the other hand, has seen Tesla’s shares take a tumble since their peak in late 2021, but a rebound over the past month has helped boost his net worth.
Tesla, Musk’s flagship company, currently has a market cap of $566.23 billion, making it the company with the biggest market cap under Musk’s leadership. The company’s recent agreement with Chinese internet giant Baidu to bring EVs to China has helped fuel its rebound in share prices, with shares climbing nearly 28% over the past month. Meanwhile, Amazon, under Bezos’ successor as CEO, is reported to be in negotiations for a multi-billion-dollar NBA TV deal, which may further boost its stock value.
While the battle for the world’s richest person title continues between Musk, Bezos, and Arnault, the fluctuations in net worth highlight the volatile nature of the stock market and the wealth of the world’s billionaires. Musk, known for his ambitious ventures in Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and X (formerly Twitter), has been a prominent figure on Forbes’ real-time billionaire list since August 2021. With Arnault’s net worth surpassing the $205 billion mark, the LVMH chairman and CEO remains the top billionaire despite a recent drop in his net worth of nearly $5 billion.
As the competition for the top spots on the billionaire list heats up, investors and analysts will be keeping a close eye on the stock movements of Tesla, Amazon, and LVMH to see how they will impact the wealth rankings of Musk, Bezos, and Arnault. The ongoing battle between the world’s richest individuals serves as a reminder of the dynamic nature of wealth accumulation and the influence of global markets on individual net worth. Despite the recent fluctuations, one thing remains clear: the race for the top spot among the world’s billionaires is far from over.
