The Wall Street Journal has yet another story this morning about Elon Musk’s drug use —“ketamine recreationally through a nasal spray bottle,” “ecstasy from a water bottle,” among other substances and delivery methods — this time concerning how he does them with board members of his various companies, some of whom have amassed very valuable stock options in their time there. (Musk didn’t comment to the Journal for its story.) Some of them are worried that Musk is going to tank the value of those companies, but they’re scared to speak up because they don’t want to get on his bad side.
Speaking of difficult things to swallow, Tesla stock is worth a lot less than it used to be, even when “used to be” is “two or three weeks ago.” Because of that, Musk’s personal fortune has also shrunken by quite a bit.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index suggests that Musk has lost more than $24 billion this year. Even after a judge said the company paid him too much, Tesla stock is the biggest source of his wealth. It’s down nearly 28% for the year already, beset by a variety of woes, including lots of recalls and stiffer competition in the electric vehicle market.
Somehow, Musk is still the richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg’s calculations, worth some $205 billion. If all his evaporated wealth were given to one person, they’d be rich enough for the No. 72 spot on the index, between Swiss pharmaceuticals heir Ernesto Bertarelli and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
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