The last 24 hours have not been a good one for the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who has seen his net worth tumble. In the last day, he has seen Tesla report its biggest sales drop ever and and spent some $20 million on a Wisconsin Supreme Court race he then proceeded to lose.
According to Forbes, Musk has become one of today's biggest losers, losing $8.9 billion, or £6.1 billion (2.04%) in one day. That being said, he still stands as the world’s richest man by a considerable margin at $379 billion, or £288 billion. This is an incredible £137 billion more than the second richest man, Jeff Bezos, who stands at £149.5 billion.
Musk is known for his key roles in Tesla, SpaceX, Paypal, OpenAI and Twitter, which he rebranded as X in 2023. Since 2025, he has also been a senior advisor to US President Donald Trump.
However, the last 24 hours have been great for the multi-billionaire. It began with his $20 million losing bet on the pro-Trump candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Liberal judge Susan Crawford defeated Brad Schimel, a former Republican Attorney General, after Musk and groups associated with the tech billionaire spent millions to boost his candidacy in the most expensive judicial contest in American history.
"Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price," Crawford said in her victory speech. "Our courts are not for sale."
Just hours later, Tesla reported its biggest sales drop ever, falling 13% in the first quarter. The electric car company reported that it delivered 336,681 cars in the quarter, 50,000 fewer vehicles compared to the first three months of 2024. This marked the company’s worst sales in nearly three years.
This came at a time when Tesla’s biggest rival, Chinese electric vehicle company BYD, reported a 60% surge in sales. The EV maker based in the southern Chinese megacity of Shenzhen sold just over one million new-energy vehicles in the first three months of 2025. Its sales of pure EVs soared 39% to more than 416,000 units.
"These numbers suck," early Tesla investor Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management wrote on X.
"The brand is broken and may not be fixable", he added, who was once a Musk supporter but has recently called for the board to remove the billionaire as CEO.
A 6% reverse in decline in Tesla shares was reversed when the Trump administration confirmed that Musk is expected to end his 130-day stint as "special government employee" in late May or June.
At his richest, Musk's estimated net worth peaked at around $400 billion (£304 billion) in December 2024, making him the first person to reach that milestone.
