The world's top richest people collectively lost $50 billion of their personal fortune as the New York Stock Exchange slumped on Tuesday amidst fears of rising inflation and looming inflation. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Google Guys, nobody was spared as prices of stock held by them tumbled, Market Insider reported on Wednesday.
Even as most people struggled to balance their work and life during the pandemic, the world's top billionaires were struck gold and saw their fortunes soar. According to a CBS report in 2021, the first year of the pandemic gave a $4 trillion boost to the billionaires' wealth, raising the call for a "wealth tax."
Most billionaires weren't happy with such demands, but as time has passed and the pandemic has mellowed, the fears of a slowdown in the economy have set in. The Russian aggression in Ukraine sent fossil fuel prices through the roof, and the subsequent inflation has hit everybody hard. To rein in the inflation, countries have been hiking interest rates, which are expected to put brakes on the sluggish economy and send us into a recession.
Billionaire wealth erodes as stock prices tumble
Starting from the top of the richest people in the world list, Elon Musk's Tesla stock dipped four percent, shaving off $8 billion of his personal fortune. Jeff Bezos, who Musk is happy is the number two, lost almost $10 billion as his Amazon stock tanked by seven percent.
Google's parent company Alphabet also saw its stock price slide by six percent, which saw the cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, popularly known as the Google Guys, lose about $5 billion each.
Software giant Microsoft also saw its stock prices go down by five percent, which left founder Bill Gates and former CEO Steve Balmer poorer by $3 billion and $5 billion, respectively. Interesting Engineering has previously reported how Gates wants to erase himself from the billionaires list, but this is definitely not the way he wants it done.
Gates' dear friend Warren Buffett, who is the only person in the top 10 of Bloomberg's Billionaire List to have 'Diversified' holdings, wasn't spared either and lost $3 billion of his personal worth erased on Tuesday, while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, found someone else at fault once again to see his Meta stock dip on Tuesday.
Since the beginning of 2022, these men have seen their personal fortunes reduce by as much as $295 billion or 20 percent for this year alone, showing that the markets aren't as buoyant as one would want them to be.
Exceptions to the trend
The only exceptions to this trend have been Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, who not only bucked Tuesday's slump but have seen the year in the green. While Ambani's personal wealth has soared by $4 billion this calendar year, backed by his energy-strong portfolio, Adani's fortunes have skyrocketed by a whopping $70 billion during the same time, Markets Insider said in its report.
On Wednesday, the stock showed some signs of recovery as most of the billionaires who had lost money on Tuesday made up some the following day. But what's the use of all this money if your mom comes over and has to sleep in the garage, eh Elon?
