Less than a week after hosting Saturday Night Live, Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has reportedly lost around $20 billion of his wealth.
Musk hosted an episode of the long-standing comedy show on May 8, and so far this week shares in Tesla have fallen by as much as 15 percent, Forbes reports. Due to the dip in value, which comes not long after Tesla announced it would no longer accept Bitcoin payments for its products, Musk’s net worth has dropped by $20.5 billion, according to estimates. That would put his current networth at $145.5 billion as of Thursday (May 13), so he remains the third-richest person alive.
Going into SNL, Musk was estimated to be worth $166 billion. That means he’s the wealthiest person to ever grace the stage of Studio 8H, and he was quick to remind everyone how invested he is in cryptocurrencies during the show. He referenced Dogecoin multiple times, and the meme-inspired currency actually plummeted in value following his appearance, dipping more than 30 percent in just 24 hours.
Despite all the enthusiasm for Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies, Musk announced this week that Tesla would not accept Bitcoin payments anymore. The main reason, Musk claimed, is over the concern of fossil fuel usage for Bitcoin mining. “Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at a great cost to the environment,” said Musk.
Even if his net worth dropped following SNL, the show’s ratings benefited from him hosting. The May 8 episode resulted in the third-highest ratings of the show’s 46th season, coming just behind the episodes hosted by Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.
