By Abubakar Yunusa
Elon Musk’s net worth has fallen by an estimated $350 billion in about one week, dropping to around $1.1 trillion on Tuesday, according to a Forbes report.
The trillionaire’s net worth, which stood at $1.4 trillion as of June 16, took a hit as a sharp selloff in SpaceX shares erased nearly $1 trillion from the company’s market capitalisation in three straight sessions of declining trade, according to Forbes estimates.
SpaceX stock plunged 16% on June 22, extending its cumulative decline from its June 16 peak to more than 30%.
The company had reached a market capitalisation of nearly $3 trillion in the days following its IPO, briefly ranking it ahead of Amazon and Microsoft as the world’s fourth most valuable listed company. However, it is now valued at around $2 trillion, placing it seventh globally behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Elon Musk owns approximately 38% of SpaceX, including 4.8 billion shares and stock options, according to Forbes, making the scale of the selloff particularly damaging to his personal fortune.
According to Forbes estimates, Monday’s drop alone wiped out more than $152 billion from Musk’s net worth.
SpaceX had surged nearly 67% above its IPO price of $135 per share, briefly touching around $225 per share in the days after listing, as investors rushed to gain exposure to Musk’s portfolio of space, satellite, and AI businesses.
Since its June 16 peak, SpaceX has shed roughly $928 billion in market value, according to Forbes calculations, in what amounts to one of the fastest destructions of paper wealth in stock market history.
Musk’s net worth, which Forbes estimated had crossed the trillion-dollar mark following the IPO, making him the first person in history to reach that threshold, has now retreated to approximately $1.1 trillion, according to Forbes.He, however, stressed that the office would not automatically side with taxpayers, noting that some individuals and businesses deliberately evade taxes or under-declare their liabilities.
“My office looks at both sides of the coin. We are there for the taxpayer. We are also there for the tax authorities and revenue authorities,” he added.
On the persistent challenge of multiple taxation, Nwabueze said the office was collaborating with the Joint Revenue Board and state revenue agencies to tackle overlapping taxes and levies imposed by different tiers of government.
While acknowledging that resolving the problem would take time, he said efforts were ongoing to harmonise tax administration and reduce the burden on taxpayers.
“Things are being done to see how to at least provide some relief to Nigerians and stop some of those very extreme activities of the local governments,” he said.
The Tax Ombud disclosed that Nigeria had become the eighth country in the world to establish an Office of the Tax Ombud, describing the development as a significant step towards building trust in the nation’s tax administration system.
He argued that improved public confidence would encourage voluntary tax compliance and ultimately boost government revenue generation.
