- Stock markets tumbled last week on fears about rising interest rates and inflation.
- The tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell 8% last week and is down 13% this year.
- The world’s five richest tech tycoons have collectively lost about $85 billion in 2022.
The world’s five richest tech tycoons have collectively lost about $85 billion of their wealth in the first few weeks of 2022, with their fortunes taking an especially big hit from last week’s market sell-off.
The losses sent the fortune of the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, down to an estimated $243 billion — some $27 billion lower than at the start of the year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. It’s also nearly $100 billion lower than November, when Musk’s net worth peaked at $335 billion.
The world’s second-richest person, Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, has lost about $25 billion in 2022.
The Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has seen a $9.5 billion drop in his net worth since January 1, per the Bloomberg index, while the Google cofounder Larry Page’s net worth has decreased by $12 billion. Rounding out the losses is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth has also dropped by about $12 billion this year.
All five saw losses in their tech stock holdings. Last week, the benchmark tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell about 8% on the back of several concerns including rising interest rates and inflation. The Nasdaq is down about 13% this year.
According to Bloomberg, the only one of the world’s five wealthiest people who didn’t lose money last week was Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of the French luxury giant LVMH. Even so, Arnault’s wealth is down $10.5 billion this year, with LVMH share prices down 5% amid a broader market rout.
Here’s how the world’s six wealthiest people were faring on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of Monday: