The World’s 500 Richest People Have Lost $2 Trillion In 2022
It’s the biggest drop in their wealth ever recorded.
Related articles
It’s time to pick up your tiny violins: The world’s 500 richest people lost a collective $2 trillion in the first half of the year, the worst six months on record.
As banks raise interest rates to meet rising inflation, stocks are taking a tumble, affecting the billionaires who own those shares, according to Bloomberg. For example, in the three months through June, Elon Musk’s Tesla had its worst quarter ever, while Jeff Bezos’s Amazon had its roughest time since the dot-com bubble burst. This means that Musk saw his net worth drop almost $91 billion, while Bezos saw a decline of $92.5 billion.
Of course, these men have so much money, it’s unclear how—if at all—they’ll feel the effects of their losses. Musk remains the wealthiest man in the world, with a fortune of $305 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Meanwhile, Bezos sits in the second-wealthiest spot, with $189.5 billion.
A great deal of their wealth was acquired during the pandemic, when US billionaires collectively became about $2 trillion richer. Stimulus measures taken to help with the Covid-19 crisis led to the increased value of everything from tech companies to cryptocurrencies.
So far this year, though, people’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse. At the beginning of 2022, 10 people in the world were worth more than $145 billion. Now that number is only four. Mark Zuckerberg, who used to be in the top 10, has lost more than half of his wealth, bringing him down to $88 billion and No. 17 on the list of the world’s richest people. Similarly, Changpeng Zhao, a crypto pioneer who first appeared on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index in January, has seen his fortune crumble from $141 billion to about $23.5 billion now.
Despite the losses, they’re probably still looking into areas ripe for investment, Thorne Perkin, the president of an asset-management fund, told Bloomberg.
“Often their mindset is a bit more contrarian,” he said. “A lot of our clients look for opportunities when there’s trouble in the streets.”
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Recommended for you
Richemont Hit A Record $32.5 Billion In Annual Sales
The reopening of China significantly aided the luxury group’s sales in the last quarter.
May 15, 2023
Bernard Arnault’s Net Worth Just Passed $200 Billion
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have also achieved this feat, but Arnault is the first non-American to do it.
April 6, 2023