Elon Musk loses $90 billion: How China's DeepSeek torpedo hit where it hurts most

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, remains the world’s richest individual, but his fortune has taken a substantial hit. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s net worth now stands at $351 billion (₹30.70 lakh crore). However, he has lost a massive $81 billion (₹7 lakh crore) in just two months of 2025.

The biggest blow came from the rapid rise of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup whose innovations have disrupted the tech industry. In February alone, Musk’s fortune dropped from $433 billion to $349 billion.

SpaceX and Tesla: The Pillars of Musk’s Fortune

Musk’s wealth is primarily tied to his holdings in SpaceX and Tesla. As of March 2, 2025, he owns 42% of SpaceX through a trust. The private space company was valued at nearly $350 billion in a December 2024 tender offer, making his stake worth $136 billion.


Meanwhile, his 13% ownership in Tesla is worth around $120 billion. Tesla, the world’s most valuable carmaker, had a market valuation of $942.37 billion as of February 28, 2025.

Musk also holds an 79% stake in X Corp (formerly Twitter), though its value has plummeted by 69% since his 2022 acquisition for $44 billion. As of now, his stake is worth just $8.06 billion, per Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund.

Other Assets and Liabilities

Beyond SpaceX and Tesla, Musk has significant stakes in emerging ventures. His AI startup xAI is valued at $22.6 billion, while The Boring Company and Neuralink are worth $3.33 billion and $2.07 billion, respectively.

However, Musk’s financial commitments are just as hefty. Bloomberg estimates his liabilities at $23.2 billion. Notably, he has repeatedly stated that he does not take a salary for his work at the U.S. government's Department of Government Spending (DOGE).

DeepSeek’s Impact on other Tech Titans

DeepSeek’s rise has sent ripples across the tech industry, erasing billions from the wealth of top billionaires. The startup’s AI model, known as the R1, has been praised for its efficiency and affordability, challenging established players like OpenAI.

Nvidia, one of the hardest-hit companies, saw a massive $600 billion drop in market value due to a selloff triggered by DeepSeek’s success.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, now the second richest man with $236 billion, lost $11 billion in 2025. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, ranked third with $232 billion, also took a hit.

Jensen Huang’s Praise for DeepSeek

Despite the financial impact, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged DeepSeek’s groundbreaking innovation. Speaking on an earnings call, he said, “It’s an excellent innovation, but even more importantly, it has open-sourced a world-class reasoning AI model.” He added that DeepSeek had “ignited global enthusiasm.”

Other Billionaires Feeling the Heat

Several other business magnates have suffered losses in 2025:

• Oracle’s Chairman Larry Ellison lost $27.6 billion after Oracle’s stock fell by 14%, pushing him from third to fifth richest globally.
• Michael Dell saw a $12.4 billion decline due to Nvidia’s market slump.
• Google co-founder Larry Page lost $6.3 billion.
• Google investor Andreas von Bechtolsheim suffered a $5.4 billion loss.

While DeepSeek has disrupted the AI landscape, industry leaders are not backing down. Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are expected to invest $320 billion in AI and data centre expansion, according to CNBC.

For Musk, his diversified portfolio has helped him retain his status as the world’s wealthiest individual, but 2025 has proved to be one of his most financially turbulent years yet.

The billionaire rankings remain volatile, and the race for AI dominance is only heating up.