Wealth of world’s richest tycoons shrinks as US president’s trade war spooks investors
With global stock markets reeling from Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping border taxes, some of the US president’s business allies have been left counting the cost.
The world’s 500 richest people lost a collective $536bn (£417bn) in the first two days of stock market trading after Trump’s “liberation day” announcement last Wednesday. It was the biggest two-day loss of wealth ever recorded by Bloomberg’s billionaires index.
Within that, a coterie of tycoons who have supported Trump or attended his inauguration in January have seen their wealth shrink. Here, we look at the four who have been worst hit by the market turmoil – and one billionaire still riding high this year.
Elon Musk
The world’s richest man and the chief executive of Tesla – who has already seen his wealth drop precipitously after becoming a high-profile and controversial figure in Trump’s administration – has taken the biggest hit by some margin.
Tesla was already facing a potential buyer backlash over its CEO’s controversial behaviour, and as its shares plunged, $31bn was wiped off Musk’s net worth between the opening bell on Thursday and the market closing on Friday. The recent fall in Tesla’s stock has meant his private rockets and satellites business, SpaceX, became his most valuable asset.
So far this year, Musk’s estimated wealth has fallen by $130bn, although he still comfortably remains the world’s richest person, with a net worth of $302bn. Tesla’s shares fell nearly 5% on Wall Street on Monday afternoon, adding to these losses.
Mark Zuckerberg
The Facebook founder and owner of Instagram and WhatsApp had the next biggest loss, at more than $27bn.
The world’s third-richest person, with an estimated net worth of $179bn, was hit by a plunge in the value of Meta. Its stock dropped almost 14% over two days as the tariff war hit tech companies particularly hard. Its stock edged slightly higher on Monday, up almost 1%.
Many of the world’s biggest companies rely on markets in Asia, which had the heaviest tariffs imposed on them by Trump, for manufacturing, computer chips and IT services.
Zuckerberg, who performed a remarkable “Trump pivot” of Meta weeks before Trump took office, has seen more than $28bn wiped off his personal fortune so far this year.
Jeff Bezos
The Amazon founder and Washington Post owner had the next biggest two-day loss, at $23.5bn.
The market value of Amazon, a leading seller of imported goods from around the world, has fallen by hundreds of billions of dollars this year.
China-based sellers have more than a 50% market share of Amazon’s third-party marketplace, while its cloud services business also relies on tech produced primarily by manufacturers in Asian countries, such as Taiwan.
Bezos, the world’s second richest person, with a net worth estimated at $193bn, has seen $45bn wiped off his fortune so far this year. Amazon’s shares were marginally higher – up 0.4% – on Monday.
In February, Bezos’s $10bn climate and biodiversity fund halted funding to one of the world’s most important climate-certification organisations in a move viewed by some as a “bowing down” to Trump and his opposition to climate action.
Bernard Arnault
The owner of the LVMH luxury goods empire lost $6bn on Thursday and more than $5bn on Friday as Trump’s tariffs hit the Asian factory hubs that underpin the global garment industry. Shares fell even further on Monday, by more than 4%.
The net worth of Europe’s richest person, and the fourth wealthiest individual in the world according to Bloomberg, has dropped to $158bn – down $18.6bn so far this year.
Arnault has been friends with Trump since the early 1980s when they met at a charity dinner, and the US is his business empire’s largest market, equal in size to all European sales.
Arnault, also known as the “wolf in cashmere”, had prime seats at Trump’s second inauguration along with his wife, son and daughter.
“I have just returned from the US, and I have witnessed the winds of optimism in that country,” he said on his return. “Coming back to France is a bit like taking a cold shower.”
A 20% tariff has since been imposed on the EU, while key countries for garment manufacturing in Asia have tariffs of up to 54%.
… and Warren Buffett
Not all billionaires have seen their net worth decrease, despite the two-day rout.
The canny chair and largest shareholder in the investment company Berkshire Hathaway, known as the “sage of Omaha”, has seen his wealth increase to $155bn this year.
The world’s sixth richest person, whose annual shareholder meetings have been called “Woodstock for capitalists”, did take a $2.57bn hit in the two-day meltdown, but he has seen $12.7bn added to his net wealth so far this year.
On Friday, Trump shared a video on his social media site, Truth Social, that erroneously claimed Buffett had praised his recent economic policies.
Berkshire Hathaway subsequently issued a statement saying reports on social media attributing comments to Buffett were false. Its stock fell just over 2% in early afternoon trading on Monday.
Source: The Guardian
