Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, dimly lost the top spot on Forbes' billionaire list to Bernard Arnault, whose family owns LVMH, the world's leading luxury group.
Musk's fortune briefly fell below that of the Arnault family as US tech stocks fell as interest rates and recession fears rose.
However, by 1730 GMT Wednesday, Musk had reclaimed the lead with $184.9 billion, followed by Arnault and his family with $184.7 billion.
Gautam Adani, an Indian businessman, was third at $134.8 billion, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos fourth at $111.3 billion.
In 2021, Arnault topped the Forbes list for several hours.
His LVMH group, which includes dozens of brands such as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Kenzo, has continued to grow in terms of revenue and profit growth despite the latest global economic headwinds.
Musk’s fortune is primarily tied to the share price of Tesla, and the entrepreneur has been at the centre of controversy after having taken over Twitter in late October.
The other major wealth ranking compiled by financial data provider Bloomberg also has Musk and Arnault running nearly neck-and-neck.
According to Bloomberg’s ranking, calculated after US markets closed on Tuesday, had Musk in the lead at $178.9 billion, followed by Arnault at $165.1 billion.