While most of us struggled to find toilet paper during the pandemic‘s peak, billionaires were wiping their backsides with $100 bills. However, the financial elite may have to switch to $50s with the world’s 500 wealthiest people reportedly losing a combined USD$1.4 trillion (AUD$2.04 trillion) in the first half of the year, the worst six months on record.
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Image: Getty
While the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg won’t be moving back in with Mum anytime soon, it is pretty astonishing to look at their recent losses. As we attempt to locate our tiny violin, Bloomberg notes Elon Musk’s fortune has taken a USD$62 billion (AUD$90 billion) haircut. In May, the Tesla CEO’s net worth dove to a pathetic USD$209 billion (AUD$304.38 billion). Bloomberg believes Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has been sliced in half, while Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has lost roughly USD$63 billion (AUD$91.75 billion) in 2022.
The latest reports signal the shifting economic impacts of geopolitical concerns in the wake of the pandemic. At its peak, the global health crisis was a licence to print money for the ultra-rich, with US billionaires collectively pocketing an extra USD$2 trillion (AUD$2.91 trillion) during the period. Stimmy cheques and government handouts used to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis led to skyrocketing adoption of cryptocurrency and tech stocks.
According to Forbes, between January 2020 and November 2021, Musk gained USD$293.7 billion (AUD$427.76 billion), and Bezos captured a cool USD$86.2 billion (AUD$125.55 billion). However, it’s now time for the world to collectively pick up the tab, leading to historic financial losses.
As banks increase interest rates to meet rising inflation, stocks are taking a nose dive, impacting the billionaires who own those shares. According to Bloomberg, Tesla stocks have dropped by more than half a trillion dollars since November 2021, while Amazon shares have also plummeted ‘by the most since the dot-com bubble burst’. Additionally, Zuckerberg’s huge investment in virtual reality is tanking in the real world, with Insider reporting Reality Labs, the metaverse division at Meta, is bleeding cash. The business-focused publication also said Reality Labs lost just under USD$3 billion (AUD$4.37 billion) in the first quarter and a staggering USD$10 billion (AUD$14.56 billion) last year.
For those interested in the scoreboard, Elon Musk is still the top dog with a pot of gold worth USD$208.5 billion AUD$304 billion). Jeff Bezos takes the silver medal with a fortune of USD$129.6 billion (AUD$189 billion), while Mark Zuckerberg, who used to be in the top 10, has fallen to No.17 with only USD$60 billion (AUD$87 billion) to his name.
Image: Getty
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