Elon Musk is back on top of Bloomberg's ranking of the richest people on earth. The billionaire lost his position to Bernard Arnault, who helms French high-fashion conglomerate LVMH, in December of 2022, as Tesla's stock declined significantly amid a broader market downturn.
But as the stock has recovered in early 2023, Musk's fortune has risen with it.
Shares of Tesla are up around 95 percent since January 1, and Musk's net worth was $187.1 billion at the close of markets on Monday, placing Arnault in second place with his $185.3 billion.
Now the big question is whether Tesla will keep up the momentum. The stock is still down more than 80 percent over the past 12 months, and the headwinds it faced in 2022 remain.
In particular, Musk remains saddled with making Twitter financially viable. On Saturday night, the social media platform laid off at least 200 people, which is roughly 10 percent the remaining 2,000 who work for the company. There were around 7,500 employees when Musk started making cuts to reduce costs.
In addition, waning demand for electric vehicles has forced Tesla to cut prices to move inventory. While the cuts have boosted sales, they remain sluggish in key markets such as China.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
