Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s net worth plunged by $34 billion during his and President Donald Trump’s verbal rift on Thursday.
The significant drop brought his net worth down to $334.5 billion late on Thursday, according to Bloomberg, which tracks the personal fortunes of the world’s richest people through its Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
It marked the second-biggest drop that Bloomberg has ever seen with its index.
Chief Technology Officer of X, Elon Musk speaks onstage during the "Exploring the New Frontiers of Innovation: Mark Read in Conversation with Elon Musk" session at the Lumiere Theatre during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 (Richard Bord/WireImage / Getty Images)
Musk’s net worth comes from his stake in Tesla, SpaceX and his other business ventures, according to Bloomberg.
Shares of Tesla, the electric vehicle company that he helms, dropped 14% on Thursday amid the billionaire and president jabbing at each other on their social media platforms, X and Truth Social.
Bloomberg said the $34 billion drop in Musk’s net worth did not include any potential impact that the billionaire’s non-public businesses could possibly face.
In recent days, Musk has repeatedly railed against the reconciliation package, which Trump has dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill."
He has called the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act a "disgusting abomination" and urged Republican lawmakers to kill the bill due to its projected impact on budget deficits.
Elon Musk speaks with President-elect Donald Trump and guests at a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., on Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool/Reuters / Reuters)
Trump spoke to the press on Thursday during a White House meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and said he was "very disappointed" with Musk’s criticism of the bill and suggested Musk was aware that Tesla’s EV subsidies would be cut.
However, Musk said on X that the bill "was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!"
As the men continued to trade barbs through their social media platforms, Trump indicated he might "terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts" to save money and claimed he "asked" Musk to leave his role in the federal government, while Musk said he was the reason Trump won the 2024 election.
Musk also said SpaceX would decommission its Dragon spacecraft but later walked that back.
Despite the $34 billion plunge in his net worth on Thursday due to the fighting, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO hung onto his title as the wealthiest person on earth, Bloomberg reported.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the company's local office in Washington, U.S. on Jan. 27, 2023. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst//File Photo / Reuters Photos)
He was over $90 billion richer than the world’s next wealthiest person, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and roughly $105 billion wealthier than the third, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Their net worth stood at $241 billion and $229 billion, respectively, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
His personal fortune most recently crossed the $300 billion threshold in November after having previously done so in January 2022.
At one point in December 2024, it soared to $439.2 billion.
Eric Revell contributed to this report.