Elon Musk's $48 billion buyout of Twitter definitely shook up the S&P 500, not to mention his net worth. But it's still a drop in the bucket next to the value of his Tesla stock — even after he sold more in November.
Musk's remaining position in Tesla even makes the Powerball jackpot look small.
Musk is still the No. 1 holder of Tesla stock, unlike many other S&P 500 company founders. Prior to his latest sale from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8, he sat on 465.1 million shares of Tesla stock, which is equivalent to nearly $89 billion dollars, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That's equal to winning the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot nearly 44 times. Musk reported Tuesday selling 19.5 million shares of Tesla valued at $3.7 billion at Tuesday's closing price.
But the value of Musk's Tesla position is also melting away as he's selling. Just this year the value of Musk's current position in Tesla stock is down $74.9 billion. That in itself is equal to losing nearly 37 winning Powerball jackpot tickets.
And that means Musk has lost more money than nearly 400 stocks in the S&P 500 individually are worth this year. And he's lost more money on Tesla stock this year than Twitter was bought for.
But now you see why Musk sees Twitter as a small distraction.
Musk And Zuckerberg Take A Hit (But They'll Be Fine)
This year's wipeout in big-cap S&P 500 stocks has inflicted great pain on many founders, not just Musk.
Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg has lost more than any of them. Due to the company's costly shift to virtual reality and away from social media, the value of the company's founder's 347 million shares plunged 71% in value this year. That's a loss of $83 billion, or roughly 40 Powerball jackpots. Zuckerberg has lost more money on Meta this year than Oracle founder Larry Ellison's entire stake in his company is worth.
But it's important to note Meta's valuation hit roughly $1 trillion a year ago. So even following the crash, Zuckerberg's shares are still worth $33 billion.
Pain For S&P 500 Founders
Amazingly, as massive as Musk's paper loss on Tesla stock this year is, it's not even the largest among his peers.
Just behind Zuckerberg on money lost on their company stock is Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. Shares of the online retailer are down 46% this year. That knocked the value of his 966.1 million shares down $76 billion dollars, equal to 37 Powerball jackpots.
Don't worry, though. Bezos' position is still worth nearly 44 winning Powerball tickets, or $89 billion. Interestingly, though, the value of Bezos' stake in Amazon is now worth more than Musk's position in Tesla. Musk, though, is still wealthier due to positions in other ventures like SpaceX.
So before you lament missing out on the winning Powerball ticket, just know you could do much better working on that business idea of yours.
Billionaires Win Some, Lose Some
Founders holding big stakes in these companies are taking a hit this year.
| Holder | Stock year-to-date % ch. | Value of founder's holdings now ($ billions)* | Equivalent in Powerball jackpots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Bezos (Amazon) | -46.0% | $89.6 | 43.9 |
| Elon Musk (Tesla) | -45.7% | 89.0 | 43.6 |
| Lawrence Ellison (Oracle) | -13.3% | 86.7 | 42.5 |
| Lawrence Page (Alphabet) | -38.6% | 69.3 | 34 |
| Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) | -71.3% | 33.5 | 16.4 |
| Jen-Hsun Huang (Nvidia) | -50.4% | 12.5 | 6.1 |
| Wilmot Reed Hastings (Netflix) | -56.3% | 1.4 | 0.7 |
Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence, IBD, * - prior to Musk's sale from Nov. 4 to Nov. 8
Follow Matt Krantz on Twitter @mattkrantz
