Tesla continues to slip in the rankings of the world’s most valuable companies as its share price plunge continues into 2023.
Tesla shares fell 12.2% on Tuesday, after the electric car company failed to meet expectations on fourth-quarter deliveries. The company’s shares have fallen 72.7% in the past year.
Tesla’s market capitalization is now just $339 billion, putting it behind companies like Walmart, Nvidia, and Eli Lilly.
The share price plunge also puts Tesla behind LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury goods group. As of Wednesday, LVMH’s market capitalization is $389 billion. Unlike Tesla, shares in LVMH have largely held steady, with only a 2.5% drop in the past year after recovering from a slump over the summer.
In October 2021, Tesla became one of a few U.S. companies with a market valuation over $1 trillion, alongside companies like Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon. (Amazon has since also slipped from the $1 trillion club).
Tesla faces softer demand for its electric vehicles in markets like the U.S. and China, and is reportedly slowing production at its factories. Tesla investors also blame Musk’s simultaneous leadership of Twitter for the fall in share price. Musk, for his part, blames interest rate policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve for Tesla’s share troubles.
Arnault vs. Musk
LVMH co-founder and CEO Arnault replaced Tesla CEO Musk as the world’s richest person in mid-December. The change in rankings was due to the massive slide in Tesla’s shares, which makes up a sizable share of Musk’s net worth.
As of Wednesday, Arnault has a fortune of around $169 billion, compared to Musk’s $128 billion, estimates Bloomberg.
Musk’s fortune, at its peak in November 2021, was worth $338 billion. Arnault, at the time, was worth $172 billion.
The Tesla CEO’s fortune keeps on dropping, shrinking by just over $9 billion on Tuesday alone. (India’s Gautam Adani, currently the world’s third-richest person, has a fortune of $119 billion, according to Bloomberg)
