NEW YORK – For the first time in more than nine months, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest person.

Mr Musk lost his position at the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to Mr Jeff Bezos after shares in Tesla tumbled 7.2 per cent on March 4. He now has a net worth of US$197.7 billion (S$265.7 billion), while Mr Bezos has a bigger one of US$200.3 billion.

It is the first time that Mr Bezos, 60, the founder of Amazon.com, has topped Bloomberg’s ranking of the richest people since 2021.

The wealth gap between Mr Musk, 52, and Mr Bezos, which at one point was as wide as US$142 billion, has been shrinking as Amazon and Tesla shares move in opposite directions.

While both are among the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks that have propelled US stock markets, Amazon shares have more than doubled since late 2022 and are within striking distance of a record high. Tesla is down about 50 per cent from its 2021 peak.

Tesla shares fell on March 4 after preliminary data showed shipments from its factory in Shanghai slumped to the lowest in more than a year.

Amazon, meanwhile, is coming off its best online sales growth since early in the pandemic.

Pay package problem

Mr Musk’s wealth could take a further hit after a Delaware judge struck down his US$55 billion pay package at Tesla, where he’s chief executive. The decision took the side of an investor who had challenged Mr Musk’s compensation plan, which had been the largest in history.

Options that were included in the voided plan are one of Mr Musk’s largest assets, alongside his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX.

The Bloomberg index continues to include them in its calculations of his wealth.

The vast majority of Mr Bezos’ fortune comes from his 9 per cent stake in Amazon.

He is the online retailer’s largest shareholder, even after unloading 50 million shares worth about US$8.5 billion in February.

For him, being at the top of the wealth rankings is a familiar perch. He first overtook Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the world’s richest person in 2017.

But a massive rally in Tesla shares left Mr Bezos jockeying with Mr Musk for much of 2021 for the top spot. Late that year, he fell way behind, and did not regain the No. 1 position until now.

Mr Bernard Arnault, 74, the chairman of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury-goods maker, also ranks among the world’s wealthiest with a net worth of US$197.5 billion. BLOOMBERG