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Elon Musk loses $15.2 billion in one day, losing spot as the world’s richest person

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Elon Musk lost $15.2 billion from his net worth on Monday, losing his spot as the world’s richest person, according to Bloomberg. 

This happened because Tesla Inc. shares fell 8.6%, it’s biggest decline since September.  The decline was fueled in part by Musk’s comments over the weekend that the prices of Bitcoin and smaller rival Ether “do seem high.” He said this in a tweet, which came two weeks after Tesla announced it added $1.5 billion in Bitcoin to its balance sheet.

The cryptocurrency, which has surged more than 400% over the past year, tumbled for a second day on Tuesday, at one point slipping below $50,000 on skepticism over the durability of its rally. Tesla shares also continued their slide in early trading in New York, falling 5.2% to $677.50 at 8:09 a.m. Musk also tweeted earlier Monday that the company’s Model Y Standard Range SUV would still be available “off the menu,” backing up reports from electric vehicle news site Electrek that the model had been removed from its online configurator.

Musk drops to second on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index of the world’s 500 richest people with a net worth of $183.4 billion, down from a peak of $210 billion in January. Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos reclaimed the top spot even as his fortune fell by $3.7 billion to $186.3 billion Monday.

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: CONNOR KMIECIK

PHOTO CREDITS: THE SOUTH AFRICAN

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