In a stunning twist, a major incident has just erased a staggering $44 billion from Elon Musk’s net worth, delivering a serious blow to the billionaire titan.

On Friday afternoon, Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), suffered a significant disruption, affecting countless users across the United States. This outage, which lasted for several hours, raised serious concerns about the stability of Musk’s colossal $44 billion investment in the platform.

The catastrophe began around 2:30 PM ET, leaving users unable to access X or utilize its features, and complaints quickly flooded in on outage-tracking sites like Downdetector.

As the hours ticked by, over 50,000 reports from frustrated users piled up, primarily concentrated in the eastern United States. While major cities along the East Coast were initially hit hard, the brunt of the issues came from significant Midwestern hubs such as Dallas, Chicago, and Minneapolis. Users from other bustling cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York also faced login difficulties and service disruptions.

This latest incident serves as a glaring reminder of the ongoing struggles Musk has faced while managing X. In a matter of hours, the outage translated into millions in losses, intensifying fears about the long-term viability of Musk’s pricey acquisition in 2022.

Despite the stability of the platform’s stock price, hovering around $43 per share on outage day, the potential long-term damage to the company’s reputation could be monumental. As downtime continued, user frustration on X escalated.

Many turned to rival platforms to voice their anger, with some vocalizing their disbelief at the irony of the world’s richest man failing to maintain a service he purchased for an eye-popping $44 billion. One particularly incensed user remarked, “Elon is literally the richest man alive and is still unable to keep his d*mn website up, DO YOUR JOB.”

To add to the chaos, countless users feared they had been banned from X, encountering error messages that suggested unauthorized access. This confusion led many to speculate that they had somehow violated platform policies, only to later realize that the outage was far more widespread than they initially thought.

The fallout from this incident is just beginning to unfold, leaving many to wonder how this will impact Elon Musk’s standing in the tech world. Will he bounce back, or has this outage dealt a fatal blow to his mega-platform? Only time will tell.