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Mark Zuckerberg passed Elon Musk on Friday to become the third-richest person in the world, the first time since 2020 the arch-rival billionaires have held those positions.<\/p>\n
Musk, who ranked first on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as recently as early March, fell to fourth after Reuters reported Tesla<\/a> Inc. had canceled plans for a less-expensive car, sending shares lower. (Musk denied<\/a>\u00a0the report.) That followed news earlier in the week that Tesla\u2019s vehicle deliveries fell in the three months through March, their first year-over-year decline since the early days of the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s wealth has shrunk by $48.4 billion this year, while Zuckerberg has added $58.9 billion to his fortune as Meta Platforms<\/a> Inc. climbs to fresh highs, including a new record on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s the first time Zuckerberg has broken into the top three on Bloomberg\u2019s ranking of the richest people since Nov. 16, 2020, when he was worth $105.6 billion and Musk\u2019s fortune was $102.1 billion. Musk now has a net worth of $180.6 billion; Zuckerberg\u2019s is $186.9 billion.<\/p>\n The reversal of the wealth gap between Musk and Zuckerberg, which was as big as $215 billion in November 2021, illustrates how once-hot electric vehicle stocks have been usurped by big tech, and particularly anything involving artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tesla shares have fallen 34% this year, making it the worst performer<\/a> in the S&P 500 Index. It\u2019s been battered by a global slowdown in EV demand,\u00a0growing competition<\/a>\u00a0in China and production problems in Germany. Meta, meanwhile, has surged 49% thanks to strong quarterly earnings and excitement about the company\u2019s AI initiatives. It\u2019s the fifth-best performer on the S&P 500.<\/p>\n The two billionaires\u2019 rivalry extends beyond their wealth: Musk and Zuckerberg have been engaged in an ongoing public spat that intensified when Meta launched Threads, a social-media platform that competes with Musk\u2019s X<\/a>. The two even traded barbs last year about a possible cage fight. Musk, 52, recently revived the idea on X, saying he would fight Zuckerberg, 39, \u201canywhere, anytime.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s net worth could take a further hit after his $55 billion Tesla pay package was struck down by a Delaware judge. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index continues to use the options from that pay package, which are one of Musk\u2019s largest assets, in its calculations of his wealth.<\/p>\n Bernard Arnault, the chairman of luxury giant LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and Amazon<\/a>.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos hold the first two spots on Bloomberg\u2019s wealth ranking with fortunes of $223.4 billion and $207.3 billion, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to keep up with the trends, issues, and executives shaping corporate finance. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n