Elon Musk has undergone one of the greatest wealth losses since he became a billionaire

We can now put a price on the scandal between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, writes Business Insider.

Musk's net wealth dropped on Thursday by $ 34 billion in one of the biggest losses he has registered in a single day since he became a billionaire, according to the calculations made by the Bloomberg agency.

Until Thursday, Musk had largely focused his criticism on the draft law on the US budget, prepared by the Republican Congressmen in close collaboration with Trump's administration. It all changed when Musk's attack on US President became personal.

Musk rejected Trump's characterization that he criticized the draft law only because he would eliminate the tax credits of Tesla.

Then, he continued his tirade, revealing old posts from Trump's Twitter that seemed to support his views. And he launched the “real bomb”, as Musk described it: he accused Trump of links with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who died in prison in 2019, after being convicted for a wide range of sexual crimes, including human trafficking.

Trump threatened Musk to lose government contracts

“It is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is dissatisfied with the project of great and beautiful law (no as Trump described the budget law) because he did not include the policies he wanted,” said Karoline Leavitt, the spokesman of the White House, in response to the Business Insider's request to comment on Musk's message.

“The president is focused on adopting this historical law and doing our great country again,” she added. Trump reacted with his own irony, threatening to cancel the federal contracts with Musk's companies.

Musk said he would immediately remove the Dragon Spaces of Spacex space, which serves the International Space Station, as a reaction to Trump's threat.

Tesla shares collapsed by over 14%, which meant a loss of about $ 138 billion from the total market capitalization of the car company.

Bloomberg estimates that this decline deleted $ 34 billion from Musk's net wealth until the American scholarship is closed on Thursday, one of the biggest losses recorded in a single day by Musk, but any US company CEO. Despite the huge loss he received, Musk's personal wealth continues to rise to a dizzying digit: $ 335 billion.

According to Bloomberg calculations, the second richest man in the world at the moment, Mark Zuckerberg, has a fortune of 241 billion.

Loss now registered by Musk is overshadowing that of 2021

Business Insider also makes a comparison for reference. In November 2021, Musk published a poll on Twitter, asking his followers if he had to sell 10% of his shares in Tesla. Over 57% of the 3.5 million respondents said “Yes”.

The post has triggered a 16% decrease in Tesla shares that week, leading to a loss of $ 50 billion for Musk. But the decline was recorded during several days of trading on the stock exchange and the figure does not take into account the galloping inflation that has affected the US in recent years.

Musk claimed that his messages on social networks do not affect the value of the companies he leads or holds. However, the commission for scholarships and securities (sec) in the US had another opinion.

Sec sued Musk as a result of his famous 2018 Tweet, in which he claimed he would delist Tesla on the Stock Exchange and make a private company at a price of $ 420 per share.

The agreement that followed, concluded outside the court, included a fine of $ 20 million and a clause that forced Musk to obtain the approval of the company's legal division before publishing any message about Tesla on social networks.

Musk has tried unsuccessfully to cancel this obligation, taking his case to the Supreme Court in 2023. It rejected the appeal in April last year.