In a slightly down week for markets overall, a couple of high-flying billionaires took big hits. One mogul lost his billionaire status completely.
Elon Musk’s net worth fell by $7.2 billion this week after Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Zachary … [+]
It was a down week for the stock market, with the S&P 500 dropping by -0.83% and the Nasdaq falling by 2.5% over the week spanning the market close on Friday, August 4, to Friday, August 11. Others, however, fared much worse–including the world’s richest person, a recent high-flier and one mogul who dropped all the way off the billionaire ranks.
No one lost more than Elon Musk, whose fortune fell by an estimated $7.2 billion over the week. Of course, Musk—still clinging to the title of the world’s richest person, some $2.4 billion ahead of second place Bernard Arnault—had more to lose than anyone else. Shares of his electric carmaker Tesla fell by 3.5%, the latest in a weeks-long slump for the company’s stock. Musk owns about 23% of Tesla, between stock and stock options.
It was a rough stretch for Rick Cohen, as well. Shares of his warehouse robot company Symbotic are finally cooling off, after racing up more than 400% over the first seven months of 2023. Since the beginning of August, the stock has fallen more than 30%, including a 19% drop over the week through Friday. That helped lop $4 billion from Cohen’s fortune, which includes a 72% share of Symbotic plus a major stake in C&S Wholesale Grocers, America’s largest grocery wholesaler.
Philip Fayer may have had it the worst, though. Fayer, the Canadian-born CEO of payment processor Nuvei Corp., lost his title as a billionaire altogether. Nuvei stock tanked by 46% this week after the company missed predictions for second quarter earnings, dropping Fayer’s estimated net worth well below the ten-digit mark.
Here’s how some of the world’s richest people saw their net worth change from market close on Friday, August 4, to the close on Friday, August 11.
Elon Musk
Net Worth: $225.3 billion 🔴Down: $7.2 billion
It’s been an up-and-down year for Tesla shares. This week, they were mostly down, with the stock losing value over four of the past five trading days. Chief financial officer Zach Kirkhorn unexpectedly stepped down on Monday after four years in the role and 13 years with the company. Musk, meanwhile, remains focused on his potential cage fight against Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Rick Cohen
Net Worth: $19.9 billion 🔴Down: $4 billion
Cohen’s net worth soared to an estimated $27.8 billion at the end of July, when the market value of Symbotic, his company that makes warehouse robots for customers including Walmart, eclipsed $35 billion. Since then, shares have steadily dropped, despite the company beating analyst expectations in the third quarter, reversing some of their lofty gains this year. Still, the stock is up more than 260% in 2023, helping make Cohen $12.5 billion richer than he was at the start of the year.
Phillip Fayer
Net Worth: less than $1 billion 🔴Down: $400 million
Fayer began the week worth an estimated $1.1 billion, but ended up kicked out of the three-comma club. Shares of the Canadian entrepreneur’s payments processing firm Nuvei Corp. fell by 46% after a bad reception to its second quarter earnings report, enough to push Fayer’s fortune below the billion-dollar mark.