Tesla-owner Elon Musk briefly lost the top spot on Forbes' billionaire list on Wednesday to Bernard Arnault, whose family owns the world's leading luxury group, LVMH.

With US tech stocks sliding as interest rates and recession fears rise, Musk's fortune briefly fell below that of the Arnault family.

But around 1730 GMT Musk was back on top at US$184.9 billion, followed by Arnault and his family at US$184.7 billion.

Indian businessman Gautam Adani was in third place at US$134.8 billion, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in fourth at US$111.3 billion.

Arnault had also topped the Forbes list for several hours in 2021.

His LVMH group, with includes dozens of brands including Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Kenzo, has continued to post strong 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. (AFP)