230 Trillion Won 'Largest Loss' Dishonor Musk Guinness Record Registered

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has entered the Guinness World Records for the 'largest asset loss in the world.' Following the stigma of Tesla experiencing the worst stock price decline in history with a 70% plunge last year, Musk’s assets nearly 230 trillion won evaporated, earning him the dishonor of the largest asset loss globally.

On the 10th (local time), Guinness World Records cited Forbes’ real-time billionaire asset tally, announcing that Musk recorded a $182 billion (approximately 227 trillion won) asset decrease last year.

The previous record holder was Masayoshi Son, chairman of Japan’s SoftBank, who recorded a $58.6 billion (approximately 7.3 trillion won) asset loss in 2000. Musk’s new record is more than three times that of Son’s.

The U.S. financial media CNBC commented, “Thanks to Tesla’s ‘Techno King’ (Musk) having the worst year last year, he can now add the new title of ‘Guinness World Record Holder’ to his resume.”

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The rapid decline in Musk’s assets is due to Tesla’s stock price collapse. Once the leader in the automobile sector and a symbol of growth stocks, Tesla’s stock price plunged nearly 70% last year. At the beginning of last year, Tesla’s stock was trading around $400, but amid a sluggish core electric vehicle business and the reckless Twitter acquisition, ‘owner risk’ became prominent, quickly eroding market trust. By the close on the 30th of last month, the stock price had fallen to $123.18.

Despite unprecedented recession conditions caused by semiconductor chip shortages and supply chain disruptions following the COVID-19 aftermath, Tesla, which had enjoyed record growth, ended up repeatedly falling and left the stigma of being the company with the worst stock price decline in history.

Meanwhile, amid the decline of big tech stocks last year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also saw their assets evaporate by $80 billion and $73 billion respectively, but these figures fell far short of Musk’s record.