Jeff Bezos Dethrones Elon Musk, Becomes World Richest Man Again

Jeff Bezos has reclaimed his title of world’s richest person, ending Elon Musk’s six-week reign atop the list.

Musk lost about $4.5 billion Tuesday after Tesla’s (TSLA) shares fell 2.4 percent, which was enough to knock him to second place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking.

Bezos’ net worth also fell as the broader stock market lost a bit of ground but his loss wasn’t as extreme, only taking a hit of about $372 million. The index currently says Bezos is worth $191 billion compared to Musk’s $190 billion.

Musk became the richest man in the world early in January when Tesla’s stock was rising. The 170 million shares of Tesla he already owns increased in value by $106 billion during 2020, as shares shot up 743 percent during the course of the year.

Bezos had a rather robust 2020, too. The Amazon CEO’s stake in the company increased by $75 billion in 2020, to $173.3 billion, given the huge increase in sales driven by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bill Gates remains the world third-richest person worth $137 billion.