Musk’s Net Worth Drops $18.6 Billion After Tesla Selloff
Tesla’s sharp selloff wiped $18.6 billion from Elon Musk’s fortune on Thursday, but Forbes still puts his wealth at $731.7 billion. Analysts want proof that…
NEW YORK — Elon Musk net worth fell by $18.6 billion on Thursday after Tesla shares suffered their worst intraday selloff in more than a year, according to Forbes. The drop came after Tesla’s earnings report disappointed Wall Street and renewed pressure on the company’s next growth bets.
Tesla shares plunged 14.1% as of Thursday afternoon, putting the stock on track for its largest single-day decline since June 5, 2025, when it fell 14.2%. Forbes said Musk’s fortune stood at $731.7 billion after the decline, though he remained the world’s richest person.
Wall Street wants proof
The reaction was not just about one quarter. Analysts pointed to Musk’s push into robotics and robotaxis, saying investors now want evidence that those plans can produce measurable progress. The company’s auto business, still the core of Tesla’s valuation, is under strain at a moment when the market is looking well beyond cars.
Tesla reported revenue of $28.2 billion for the quarter, topping the $27.2 billion consensus estimate cited by FactSet. But earnings came in far below expectations, at 33 cents versus forecasts of 55 cents. That gap landed hard with investors.
During Tesla’s earnings call, chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja said the automaker plans to spend $25 billion this year and more in the years ahead. That spending drew scrutiny from analysts, who said the company will need tangible milestones to justify the pace of investment.
Morgan Stanley analysts called the spending a necessary investment, but said Tesla still needs to show tangible milestones for its robotaxi and Optimus programs. Canaccord Genuity analysts made a similar point, saying they want to see meaningful robotaxi deployments over the next six months as Tesla steps up its AI strategy.
Why the move matters
For investors, the sharp swing in Elon Musk net worth is a reminder that his paper wealth still moves with Tesla’s stock, not with cash in hand. Forbes said the fortune decline came from the share-price drop, which also dragged broader sentiment around Tesla’s strategy.
That matters beyond Musk’s personal ranking. A sustained slide in Tesla shares can affect how the market values the company’s bets on self-driving technology, humanoid robots and artificial intelligence. It also raises the pressure on Tesla to show those projects are moving from pitch deck to product.
There was also fresh attention on Musk’s wider empire. Canaccord analysts said they hoped to see momentum around a merger between Tesla and SpaceX, although Musk brushed off questions about any tie-up during the earnings call. “We can’t talk about, you know, combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call—it has got to be done with the appropriate process,” Musk said.
He added that there is “more and more overlap” between his two firms. That overlap is now part of the market’s bigger debate: whether Tesla can still command premium valuation while investors wait for results from businesses that remain mostly future promises.
For now, Forbes still lists Musk as the world’s richest person, ahead of Google co-founder Larry Page at $263.8 billion and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at $245.4 billion. But Thursday’s drop showed how quickly that lead can shrink when Tesla stumbles.
