Musk back on top: Tesla CEO regains title as richest man in the world, says report

Elon Musk is once again the richest man in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The Tesla and Twitter and CEO held the title until last December, when his net worth fell by over $200 billion as Tesla stocks started to fall. Bernard Arnault, CEO of the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton, rose to the top at that time.

However, the billionaire's fortunes have turned for the better again, with Tesla stock rallying to push the company's chief back on to his throne. According to Bloomberg, Musk’s net worth was around $187.1 billion at the time of markets closing on Monday. Arnault's, meanwhile, was at $185.3 billion.

Meanwhile, on the Twitter front, there have been reports of more layoffs this week as Musk waded into a racism controversy that risked pushing advertisers further away from the struggling platform.

Musk called US media "racist" on Sunday after multiple American newspapers announced they would stop publishing a popular comic strip whose creator called Black people a hate group.

The Twitter chief made his comment in regard to backlash to a rant by Scott Adams, creator of the long-running "Dilbert" comic strip -- a satirical take on office life.

"For a 'very' long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they're racist against whites & Asians," Musk wrote in a post on Twitter, where he has reinstated thousands of users banned for hate speech.

"Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist."

Under Musk's leadership, Tesla has been hit with multiple lawsuits alleging racism and researchers say hate speech has flourished at Twitter since his takeover.

"It's as though Elon Musk is on a whirlwind tour to try to put Twitter out of business," said independent tech analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.

"All he has to do is keep quiet, but he has to constantly spout stuff that alienates advertisers."

(With inputs from AFP)

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