Musk’s paper wealth falls about $80 billion as Tesla shares drop

Musk’s one-day wealth decline

Yahoo Finance reports that Elon Musk’s paper fortune fell by almost $80 billion in a single session on Thursday. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated the drop at $79.7 billion, leaving him at about $785 billion. Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list estimated a $79.3 billion decline, putting him at about $789.5 billion. The article says these figures reflect changes in share prices, and that Musk sold no stock.

Tesla’s decline and broader market losses

Yahoo Finance says Tesla shares closed down 10.77%, and that this was the main reason for Musk’s loss. The report says he was not alone, as the market saw a broad selloff. From Wednesday’s close to Thursday’s close, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF fell 4.41%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF dropped 3.53%, and the Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the Nasdaq-100, declined 6.49%. The article says a Financial Times live blog described that index’s move as its biggest drop since the pandemic.

Chipmakers and AI-related stocks were hit hardest

Yahoo Finance reports that the VanEck Semiconductor ETF fell 11.21% during the selloff. It says the worst losses came among AI infrastructure and other chip-related names. Nebius Group fell 14.94%, Arm dropped 13.08%, Broadcom lost 10.43%, Intel declined 10.33%, CoreWeave fell 9.83%, and Palantir slipped 9.73%.

Volatility and the Magnificent Seven

The article says the scale of the move was unexpected because the CBOE Volatility Index, or Wall Street’s fear gauge, had closed at 16.61 on Wednesday, which it describes as within its normal range. Yahoo Finance also reports that all seven Magnificent Seven stocks fell. Apple had the smallest decline at 1.53%, while Meta dropped 3.96% and Microsoft fell 3.58%.

Spending outlook questioned

The report says the market’s next direction may hinge on cloud giants’ capital spending plans. It states that hyperscaler capital spending near $800 billion in 2026 would make the situation a political scare, while spending cuts would indicate a correction.