This week proved turbulent for the world's richest individual, Elon Musk. Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla fell a total of 18%, its worst performance since 2022. Aerospace company SpaceX's stock also continued its downward trend, dropping 7,2% in five days to close at 115 USD, its lowest since its IPO last month.

The decline in both stocks evaporated approximately 130 billion USD from Musk's fortune this week, reducing it to 725 billion USD. Last month, he was the first person globally to possess a 1 trillion USD fortune. In a post on the social media platform X on 24/7, Musk described himself as a "former trillionaire".

US billionaire Elon Musk in Paris, France, 6/2023. Photo: *Reuters*.

Tesla's stock dropped sharply after its Q2 financial report this week, which revealed lower-than-expected results. The company reported negative free cash flow due to significant spending on future projects such as robotaxis, humanoid robots, and a large-scale chip manufacturing plant.

"We anticipate these investments will continue to pressure free cash flow and slow profit growth, meaning no short-term benefits for shareholders", Argus Research analysts stated on 24/7. They believe "Tesla is unlikely to maintain stable profit growth in the short term".

Year-to-date, Tesla's stock has fallen 30%, making it the worst-performing stock among large-cap technology companies.

Meanwhile, SpaceX's stock has consistently declined over the past month following a strong post-IPO surge. The stock has dropped in four of the last five weeks and is now approximately 43% below its mid-June peak.

This week, Musk also appeared in a tense interview with *The Economist*. During the 90-minute conversation, the billionaire admitted to having "become too involved in politics" and "frankly gone too far" when he joined President Donald Trump's administration in early 2025 with the Government Performance Board (DOGE).

"I received a lot of criticism for that", Musk admitted, adding that he no longer wishes to be as deeply involved in politics.

Despite this, a bright spot for Musk this week was SpaceX's test launch of the massive Starship V3 rocket on the evening of 24/7. This fully reusable rocket is considered a key factor in SpaceX's short-term expansion of its Starlink satellite network.

In a post on X, a platform now owned by SpaceX, the company stated that the test flight scheduled for 23/7 had to be postponed due to weather. Last week, SpaceX also canceled a test flight after the rocket's booster activated a hold mode, causing the "engines to shut down just as ignition began", a SpaceX employee noted during the live broadcast of the event.

SpaceX intends to use Starship to return US astronauts to the Moon's surface. He also plans for this rocket to transport people to Mars in the future.

Ha Thu (according to *CNBC*, *Reuters*)