Billionaire Battle Royale

• Published date: 10 April 2024
• Author: AVI STERN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg became the third richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index on Friday, with a reported net worth of $187 billion. It's the first time Zuckerberg has cracked the top three since 2020, edging out Elon Musk by $6 billion. Musk, the head of Tesla, sits at $181 billion, making him the fourth richest person in the world

These tech titans have been at odds since 2016 when a SpaceX explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite. Their public spat escalated last year when Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage fight last year. Meta's launch of Threads, a competitor to Musk's platform X, only added fuel to the fire.

Musk is facing a staggering loss of $48 billion ($500 million per day) this year, mainly due to a shockingly bad Tesla performance. Just three years ago, Musk was a whopping $215 billion richer than Zuckerberg. And this isn't Musk's first setback. As recently as March, he held the title of the world's richest person.

The news comes as Tesla sold only 386,800 cars in the first quarter of 2024, marking its first year-over-year sales drop in almost four years. Tesla stock plummeted over 7% in early trading.

Intensifying competition in the electric vehicle market and reduced demand in China, owing to economic tensions, are driving down Musk's sales. In February 2024, Tesla had to recall a record 2.2 million electric vehicles due to a minor dashboard font issue. It's no surprise that Tesla's stock value keeps plummeting. The company's stock...