Jeff Bezos dethrones Elon Musk to become world's richest person

March 4 (UPI) -- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has dethroned Tesla's chief executive Elon Musk as the richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after Tesla stock tumbled more than 7% on Monday.

Bezos landed the top spot with a net worth of $200 billion, according to Monday's index, while Musk -- who also founded SpaceX and owns the social media platform X -- came in second with $198 billion. French billionaire Bernard Arnault, who runs a luxury brands conglomerate of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Celine, came in third with $197 billion.

Bezos and Musk have frequently traded places at the top of the world's richest list. Last June, Musk reclaimed the top spot over Arnault, with Bezos landing in third place with $144 billion.

According to Monday's index, Meta chief executive officer and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is the fourth richest person with $179 billion, followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in fifth place with $150 billion.

Musk's slide from first place came on the heels of Monday's 7.16% drop in Tesla stock, its lowest close since Feb. 13, as China announced new price cuts amid slowing shipments.

The last time Bezos held the richest person title was in the fall of 2021. Despite selling some 50 million Amazon shares last month, worth about $8 billion, Bezos still holds a 9% stake in the online retail giant. Amazon shares are up about 17% year to date, with Bezos gaining $23 billion in worth over the past year.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the world's richest people and is updated daily at the close of trading in New York.