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Elon Musk’s estimated net worth fell below $400 billion in February 2025, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. The index had put his fortune at about $486.4 billion on December 17, 2024; by the time Bloomberg reported the drop on February 10, Tesla shares had fallen about 27% from their December peak. The change was a market-based estimate of wealth, not evidence that Musk spent or lost nearly $90 billion in cash.

What happened to Musk’s estimated fortune?

Bloomberg reported on February 10, 2025, that Musk’s estimated wealth had dipped below $400 billion for the first time that year. The figure followed a reported peak of approximately $486.4 billion on December 17, 2024. Fortune, citing Bloomberg’s index, described the decline from that peak as nearly $90 billion in less than two months. These are estimates that move with asset prices and valuation assumptions, not fixed account balances.

The headline is historical: “this year” referred to 2025 in the original coverage, not 2026. Bloomberg’s report and Fortune’s follow-up were published on February 10 and February 11, 2025, respectively. (Bloomberg; Fortune)

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Why Tesla mattered so much

The clearest mechanical link was Tesla’s falling share price. Bloomberg said Tesla shares were down about 27% from their December peak by February 10, 2025, while Tesla shares and options made up more than 60% of its estimate of Musk’s wealth. When a large part of a person’s estimated fortune is tied to a publicly traded company, a fall in that company’s market value can quickly pull down the estimate, even if the person has not sold shares.

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Tesla’s public shares are repriced in the market; private-company interests are valued less frequently and through estimates. That difference helps explain why changes in Tesla’s stock could move Bloomberg’s daily figure more immediately than a change in the estimated value of a private holding. Bloomberg says its Billionaires Index uses market prices and valuation assumptions and updates after the close of each New York trading day. (Bloomberg Billionaires Index methodology and profile)

What was weighing on Tesla?

At the time, Tesla faced several reported business and investor concerns. Fortune reported that the company sold roughly 20,000 fewer vehicles in 2024 than in 2023, marking its first annual year-over-year sales decline in more than a decade. It also noted stronger competition from Chinese automaker BYD and sharp January 2025 declines in Tesla registrations in France and Germany. Those registration figures were reported as approximately 63% and 60% lower, respectively.

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Investors were also weighing expectations around Tesla’s future growth, including autonomous driving and robotics, alongside discussion of Musk’s political role and possible effects on the company’s brand. Those factors provide context for market sentiment; the available reporting does not assign a separate, measurable share of Musk’s wealth decline to each one. The defensible chain is narrower: Tesla’s market value fell, Tesla accounted for a large part of Bloomberg’s estimate, and the estimate declined. (Fortune’s February 2025 report)

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Other holdings and the late-2024 peak

Tesla was not Musk’s only major asset. Bloomberg linked his December 2024 peak to rising Tesla shares after the U.S. election and a higher reported valuation for SpaceX. Fortune said Musk owned approximately 42% of SpaceX, with his stake valued at roughly $136 billion at the time. The reported $350 billion company valuation was a private-company valuation, not a continuously traded market capitalization.

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Musk also had interests in X, xAI, Neuralink and The Boring Company. Their values are harder to observe directly than Tesla’s share price: private-company estimates can depend on funding rounds, transactions, comparable businesses, ownership assumptions and discounts for assets that cannot readily be sold. They can cushion or complicate a net-worth calculation, but do not erase the effect of a sharp move in a heavily weighted public holding. (Fortune; Bloomberg Billionaires Index)

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How the events fit together

Date Reported development
December 17, 2024 Bloomberg’s estimate of Musk’s fortune reached approximately $486.4 billion.
February 10, 2025 Bloomberg reported that the estimate had fallen below $400 billion for the first time in 2025.
February 11, 2025 Fortune published its account of the decline and Tesla-related context.
March 10, 2025 In a separate follow-up, Bloomberg reported that Musk’s fortune had fallen by another $148 billion since Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration. That later movement was distinct from the February threshold crossing.

Sources: Bloomberg, February 10, 2025; Fortune, February 11, 2025; Bloomberg, March 10, 2025.

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Why wealth trackers can report different totals

A billionaire index estimates net worth; it does not measure cash on hand. Different trackers may use different counts or treatments of shares and options, debt, pledged stock, private-company valuations, exchange rates and timing cutoffs. Public shares have observable market prices, while private-company interests require valuation judgments. Bloomberg’s result should therefore be attributed to Bloomberg and its estimate date, rather than presented as an exact, universal total.

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Crossing below $400 billion is also separate from a ranking change. The threshold alone does not establish whether Musk was or was not the world’s richest person on that specific date; that would require checking the ranking for the same date and tracker.

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