Jeff Bezos reclaims world's richest title after Elon Musk loses $6 billion

Jeff Bezos has reclaimed his title of world's richest person, ending Elon Musk's roughly six-week reign atop the list.

Musk lost about US$4.5 billion ($5.8 billion) on Tuesday after Tesla shares fell 2.4 per cent, which was enough to knock him to second place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranking.

Mr Bezos' net worth also fell as the broader stock market lost a bit of ground - but his loss wasn't as extreme, only taking a hit of about US$372 million ($479 million).

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That was enough to recapture his title that he held for about three years.

The index currently says Mr Bezos is worth US$191 billion ($246 billion) compared to Mr Musk's US$190 billion ($245 billion).

Mr Musk's surge to first place happened in early January, when Tesla's stock was skyrocketing.

The 170 million shares of Tesla he already owns increased in value by US$106 billion ($136 billion) during 2020, as shares shot up 743 per cent during the course of the year.

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The Tesla CEO also fanned the flames during a trader frenzy that sent GameStop shares exploding (and later deflated).

Mr Bezos had a rather robust 2020, too.

The Amazon CEO's stake in the company increased by US$75 billion ($96 billion) in 2020, to US$173.3 billion ($223 billion), given the huge increase in sales driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Earlier this month, he announced that he's stepping down from his CEO role and will transition to the role of executive chair later this year.

Meanwhile, Bill Gates remains at the world's third-richest person with US$137 billion ($176 billion) of worth.