Elon Musk’s net worth has fallen by $9bn since Twitter takeover

Tesla chief remains the richest person on the planet

Elon Musk’s net worth has dropped by about $9bn since his takeover of Twitter, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The Tesla titan’s fortune is down to $204bn, about a quarter of his worth before the beginning of this year.

The multibillionaire, however, still remains the richest person on the planet even after closing the deal to buy Twitter last week for his originally agreed price of $44bn.

After buying the platform on Thursday – a deal in which Mr Musk personally paid about $25bn – the SpaceX chief said in a statement that the acquisition was to “try to help humanity” and that he “didn’t do it to make more money”.

The Tesla chief faces a number of challenges as he takes over the social media company.

In its second quarter financial report in July, Twitter posted a net 1 per cent revenue decline, “reflecting advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment” as well as uncertainty related to Mr Musk’s then pending acquisition of the company.

Following his takeover, Mr Musk has attempted several changes to the platform, including plans to charge users $20 to maintain their verification badges.

“We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?,” Mr Musk tweeted in reply to author Stephen King, who complained of the planned move.

He later confirmed on Monday that a Twitter blue tick will cost $8 (£6.97) per month, branding the platform’s current verification system “bulls***”.

Within hours of buying the company on Thursday, the Tesla titan fired CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, and general counsel Sean Edgett. He also dissolved Twitter’s board and made himself “sole director”.

While he rubbished a report by The New York Times that suggested he was planning mass layoffs at Twitter – calling the report “false” – he had earlier told prospective investors that he intended to reduce the company’s staff from around 7,500 down to just over 2,000.

The decline in Mr Musk’s net worth can also be attributed to the fall in shares of Tesla, which has dropped by 43 per cent since the beginning of this year.

His fortunes peaked last November at $340bn when Tesla’s shares were on the rise but the electric car manufacturer’s stocks have since dropped as delivery numbers came up short of expectations.

Mr Musk also had to sell over $15bn in Tesla stock to finance his Twitter acquisition.