Elon Musk loses biggest amount of money in history

Billionaire could fall to third spot under Gautam Adani on global ranking of billionaires

Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX chief Elon Musk. AFP

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Tuesday continued to lose wealth at a record-setting pace after a mixed Tesla deliveries report.

Mr Musk is now the first person in the world to lose more than $200 billion, and is projected to lose even more, Bloomberg News reported.

More losses on Tuesday might push Mr Musk further down on the Forbes billionaires list.

He is currently in second place ahead of South Asian billionaire Gautam Adani, who leads the Adani Group conglomerate.

At the top is Bernard Arnault, owner of luxury goods group LVMH.

Mr Musk's wealth on Tuesday afternoon stood at $135.6 billion and Mr Adani had $125.5 billion.

The Tesla chief's valuation is being affected by electric vehicle maker's performance in 2022, which ranked among the worst in the benchmark S&P 500 index.

Tesla's shares last traded at $107.11, and its market value has declined by about $400 billion since Mr Musk secured financing to buy social media company Twitter.

Valued at about $340 billion, Tesla is still the world's most valuable car maker, even though its production is a fraction of rivals such as Toyota.

Tesla delivered 405,278 vehicles in the fourth quarter, short of analysts' estimates of 431,117, according to Refinitiv.

For all of 2022, deliveries rose by 40 per cent, missing Mr Musk's 50 per cent annual target.

Tesla unveils new semi-electric truck - in pictures

News agencies contributed to this report