Elon Musk is no longer a trillionaire. His fortune has fallen to $684 billion, below where it stood before SpaceX went public last month, wiping out more than $600 billion in a little over four weeks. The decline alone exceeds the entire net worth of every other person who has ever appeared on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The SpaceX unwind
SpaceX shares hit a closing high of $201.80 on June 16, the day Musk’s wealth peaked at $1.33 trillion. Since then the stock has tumbled 46% to a record low of $108.37. A successful Starship launch from Starbase last Friday did nothing to arrest the slide. Short interest has ballooned to 219.3 million shares as of July 29, up from 23.3 million on June 16, according to S3 Partners, more than one-third of the float available for public trading.
The Tesla drag
Tesla shares have fallen 17% since the company reported second-quarter results on July 22. The electric-car maker posted $5.8 billion of capital expenditure, its first cash-negative quarter in two years, even as deliveries beat expectations. Musk called it a “massive capex year” and said spending would exceed $25 billion for the full year. The stock is down 36% from its December high. Musk’s Tesla stake is now worth $129 billion.
The unlock overhang
Next month as many as 911.5 million shares held by insiders and early backers will be unlocked, potentially adding fresh supply to a market already digesting a surge in short selling. Musk’s SpaceX position, still the bulk of his wealth, is valued at more than $550 billion. The paper loss on that stake since mid-June is larger than the market capitalization of most S&P 500 companies.
Earnings test next week
SpaceX reports quarterly earnings for the first time as a public company next week. The print will give investors their first look at the financials behind the valuation roller coaster. Until then, the world’s first trillionaire is simply a very rich man watching his net worth revert to the mean, or at least to the pre-IPO mean.