A fierce rivalry between the CEOs of Tesla Inc TSLA and Meta Platforms Inc META almost saw the billionaires settle their differences with a cage fight.
While the cage fight never took place, the two rivals continue to battle, but mostly in terms of stock performance and wealth.
What Happened: Tesla CEO Elon Musk ended 2023 as the world's richest person, a position that was helped by shares of the electric vehicle company gaining over 100% during the year.
Musk lost the title of world's richest several times in 2023 but spent the majority of the year in the top spot of the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index.
In 2024, Musk has fallen from the top spot and now ranks third in wealth at $179 billion, trailing LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault ($204 billion) and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos ($201 billion).
Musk lost $49.6 billion in wealth in 2024, which is mostly due to Tesla shares falling over 30%. Benzinga recently reported Tesla is the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2024.
While Musk likely isn't worried about his wealth, he may not love the fact his rival Mark Zuckerberg is only $2 billion away from passing him for third place on the list.
Zuckerberg is currently worth $177 billion and ranks fourth on the list. The Meta Platforms CEO gained $48.5 billion in wealth in 2024, ranking as one of the largest gains of all the billionaires.
Meta shares are up 36% year-to-date in 2024 as one of the top gainers in the S&P 500.
The Meta CEO ended 2023 as the sixth richest person, gaining $82.5 billion thanks to Meta shares having a strong 2023. Zuckerberg's 2023 wealth gain trailed only a $92.0 billion gain by Musk. Over the past 15 months, Zuckerberg's wealth has soared by more than $125 billion.
Related Link: Zuckerberg Vs. Musk: Billionaire Battle Sees Meta Platforms Rejoin $1 Trillion Market Cap Club Before Tesla
Why It's Important: Musk maintained a rivalry with several other billionaires, including Bezos, Zuckerberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Bezos passed Musk this year and Zuckerberg could as well. Ranking fifth at $152 billion, Gates is also within striking distance of passing Musk.
As Musk fights against Zuckerberg and calls out the social media platform company for launching Threads to copy X, formerly known as Twitter, and often calls Instagram a "thirst trap," it could be Zuckerberg having the last laugh.
Meta Platforms is now worth more than twice the value of Tesla and the soaring stock price is rewarding investors who stuck by the social media company.
TSLA, META Price Action: Tesla shares closed at $163.57 on Friday versus a 52-week trading range of $152.37 to $299.29. Shares of Tesla are down 11.3% over the past year.
Meta Platforms shares closed at $484.10 on Friday versus a 52-week trading range of $193.64 to $523.57. Shares of Meta are up 150% over the past year.
Photos: Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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