The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has just lost about -4.27 percent of his wealth after the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla denied a report, stating that the billionaire had planned to build a private airport in the United States.
A report emerged on Thursday that the billionaire had plans to construct a private airport around Central Texas to service personnel and operations of his firms, namely: Tesla, The Boring Company, and SpaceX.
However, Musk, who apparently owns acres of land in Central Texas, took to Twitter on Friday to deny the report, saying it would be silly to build another private airport when there was an international airport close to Tesla.
In his tweet, the billionaire said: “Not true. Tesla is 5 minutes from Austin International Airport. It would be silly to build another private airport. However, the existing commercial airport needs another runway, as Austin is growing fast!”
Following his comment, Tesla’s stock price fell by -5.82 percent during trading on the US stock exchange yesterday, with the share value dropping by $53.86 to close at $872.04, lower from the $925.90 posted earlier.
The dip in Tesla’s share reduced Elon’s net worth, causing the billionaire to lose approximately $11.9 billion from his total estimated wealth. According to the Forbes Billionaire Index, Elon Musk’s net worth dropped to $267.4 billion on Friday.