The second richest man in the world, Elon Musk, witnessed his wealth shed an estimated $6bn after a Tesla car was involved in an accident that led to the death of two people.
Tesla stocks dropped by 3.8% after the news of the crash went mainstream. The resultant effect on Elon Musk’s wealth was a $5.71bn loss in a single day.
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The Accident
Two men lost their lives on Saturday night in Houston when their 2019 Tesla model car slammed into a tree. Police authorities on sight claimed the car might have been on autopilot due to the sitting position of the corpses.
They also struggled to put out the fire from the Tesla car and even called Tesla for help. The death of the two men has sparked a heated argument between Tesla and its critics. Autopilot or not?
Although police officers’ assertion that the car may have been on autopilot remains unconfirmed, it has raised serious uncertainty about the safety of Tesla’s autopilot feature and Tesla’s critics are not backing down on this.
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Elon Musk reacts
Elon Musk has reacted to the news, insisting that the autopilot feature in the crashed vehicle was not enabled. According to him, the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of the accident was not professional.
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What you should know
Elon Musk is now worth $183bn following the recent drop. He closed the gap on Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to $4bn early last week. The gap has widened to $14bn today.