He is also the CEO of rocket manufacturer SpaceX and owns social media company Twitter. Musk left Shanghai on Thursday, after a high-profile two-day visit. While in China, he met with foreign minister Qin Gang and other Chinese officials. The visit, which comes amid simmering U.S.-China tensions, was a sign China is an important market to Tesla, analysts have said.
Musk was knocked out of first place by LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault in December, after shares of Tesla fell after his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Most of Musk’s wealth is tied to Tesla’s stock.
During the visit, Qin sought to assure Musk that China is open to foreign businesses and would continue to offer a friendly business environment to them. Musk also reportedly signaled further expansion in China.
LVMH’s Arnault now trails behind Musk as the world’s second richest man at $187 billion, followed by Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, according to Bloomberg data.
Shares of Tesla closed 1.38% higher on Wednesday at $203.93. Tesla’s stock hit a two-year low in November when its share price dropped to $167.87, the lowest since November 2020. It was in part due to a sell-off that accelerated in the wake of Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
