The world’s two richest men, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, have lost at least $127 billion in net worth so far this year from recent stock market sell-offs, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily world ranking. the richest people.
Musk, CEO of Tesla ( (TSLA) – Get a Tesla Inc . report), lost $66.5 billion while Amazon lost ( (AMZN) – Get an Amazon.com, Inc. report.) CEO Bezos has seen his fortune drop by $61 billion as of May 23 as a market correction lowered the valuations of their companies. Amazon stock is down 35.4% year-to-date, while Tesla stock is down more than 36.1%.
Musk is now worth $204 billion while Bezos is worth $131 billion. French businessman Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury goods retailer LVMH Moët Hennessy, ranks third with a net worth of $126 billion after losing $51.8 billion so far this year.
The fortunes of the two poles are based on the risks they hold in their companies. For Musk, it’s Tesla and SpaceX, while for Bezos, it’s Amazon and Blue Origin.
Musk problems
The world’s richest man, Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, has a history of fighting with the Securities and Exchange Commission and now wants the agency that regulates the stock market to investigate Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report fake accounts on the platform.
He has challenged Twitter’s board and management since its $44 billion takeover bid for the social media company on April 14. By May 17, Musk said he wanted Twitter to check its data on the number of spam accounts and social media challenged the company’s board of directors by saying a takeover deal was no longer on the table.
“Based my presentation on the accuracy of Twitter’s SEC filings. Yesterday, the CEO of Twitter publicly refused to show <5% proof. Can't move forward with this transaction until he does," Musk said.
This last step could be Musk’s attempt to renegotiate the terms of the deal by looking for a lower price, or to walk away from the deal altogether.
The billionaire is facing more problems as Musk is reported to have settled a $250,000 sexual misconduct lawsuit. He allegedly exposed himself to a flight attendant on a private jet owned by SpaceX and proposed to him in 2016, according to a report by Business Insider.
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“For the record, these wild accusations are absolutely untrue,” Musk said of the allegations.
Decreased net worth of other billionaires
Many other billionaires have also lost significant portions of their net worth this year. The Walton family lost about $19 billion in one day after Walmart (WMT) – Get Walmart Inc.’s report downgrade. Earnings outlook after consumers cut spending amid higher inflation levels.
The Walton family heirs control the retailer, whose stock has fallen 21% in the past month.
Jim and Rob Walton, who are ranked 16th and 17th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, lost $5.63 billion and $5.34 billion of their fortune, respectively, at the market close on May 17. $6.2 billion year-to-date, while Rob Walton’s net worth is $57.8 billion and his fortune has lost $6.2 billion year-to-date on May 23.
The Walton family’s stake is managed in trusts and the heirs of the family fortune sold $6.2 billion of the stock in 2021 to keep their holdings below 50% as the company repurchased the shares.
While other investors have seen a large percentage of their fortunes squandered in the recent market sell-off, Buffett has risen to the top.
Buffett is one of three people in the list of the world’s ten richest people whose net worth has increased since January, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Oracle of Omaha is ranked 5th on the index. His total net worth is $112 billion and he has earned $3.3 billion to date.
Bloomberg list includes only two billionaires in the top ten list – Gautam Adani, an Indian infrastructure tycoon who owns real estate along with goods, power generation and transmission, who has a total net worth of $104 billion and performance to date is $27.6 billion in profit as of May 23. .
His compatriot Mukesh Ambani, at number nine, has seen his net worth increase by $5.20 billion since January to $95.2 billion.