When you’re a billionaire like Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) founder Elon Musk, it doesn’t take much to lose more than a billion overnight. As it turns out, Musk himself has lost $1.5 billion in the last two days thanks to falling share prices of his two public companies, Tesla and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY).
Musk loses $1.5 billion in paper profits
On Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Billionaires Editor Matthew G. Miller discussed just how much money Musk has lost and how quickly he has lost it. He reported that Musk’s wealth almost hit $9 billion just a couple of days ago, but now he’s worth close to $7.5 billion. This year alone Musk raked in $5.1 billion.
Miller said just a few years ago, Musk was barely able to pay his divorce settlement, but now, his fortune is directly tied to the Model S. The more people liked it, the more his wealth soared. And the more people became afraid of it because of the three recent fires, the more his wealth plummeted.
Corrections in Tesla, SolarCity not surprising
Because of how quickly shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) have risen this year, Miller notes that it isn’t surprising that the companies have posted share price corrections this year. And it is these corrections which are responsible for Musk’s losses this week.
According to Miller, most of Musk’s wealth is in Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY). He has some in his private company SpaceX, although its value is unclear because it is private and there is no other company to compare it to.
Miller notes that Musk himself is a growth story because he’s got three businesses in hyper-growth mode. He expects Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity to keep rising this year although volatility is still expected in both of them. He also doesn’t expect SpaceX to go public any time soon because of regulations.
