Elon Musk’s fortune slipped by almost $62 billion. At the same time, Jeff Bezos lost about $63 billion in his fortune, while Mark Zuckerberg lost more than half of his fortune, according to Bloomberg.
In total, the 500 richest people in the world lost 1.4 trillion. dollars in the first half of 2022, marking a big “plunge” and the biggest six-month decline ever recorded for international billionaires.
This is a sharp departure from the previous two years, when the fortunes of the super-rich soared as governments and central banks embarked on unprecedented measures to stimulate economies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, sending the value of everything from technology companies to cryptocurrencies.
With central bank officials now raising interest rates in a bid to rein in inflation, some of the highest-yielding stocks — and therefore the billionaires who own them — have taken a hit. Tesla notably posted its worst quarter in its history in the second quarter, while Amazon posted its biggest decline since the dot-com bubble burst.
Although the losses are piling up for the world’s richest people, this represents only a gentle move in the direction of reducing wealth inequality. Tesla co-founder Musk still has the world’s largest fortune at $208.5 billion, while Amazon’s Bezos is second with a fortune of $129.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Bernard Arnault, France’s richest man, ranks third with a fortune of $128.7 billion, followed by Bill Gates with $114.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg index. They are the only four whose fortunes exceed $100 billion – at the start of the year, 10 people worldwide exceeded that mark, including Zuckerberg, who is now 17th on the list with a fortune of $60 billion.
Still, billionaires have amassed so much wealth in recent years that not only can the vast majority of them weather the S&P 500’s worst first half since 1970, they may also be looking for opportunities, Thorne Perkin said. , chairman of Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management.
“Often their mindset is a little more contrarian,” Perkin said. “Many of our customers look for bargains when there’s trouble on the roads.”
“Often their mindset is a little bit different,” Perkin said. “Many of our clients look for opportunities when there is a problem.”
This was true in the first half of the year in some of the most troubled corners of international financial markets.
Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s richest man with a fortune of $35.2 billion, acquired Societe Generale’s entire stake in Rosbank PJSC earlier this year amid fallout from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. It also bought sanctioned Russian tycoon Oleg Tinkov’s stake in a digital bank for far less than its normal value.
Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, bought a 7.6% stake in Robinhood Markets Inc. in early May after the stock price fell 77% since its much-anticipated initial public offering last July. The 30-year-old billionaire also acts as a lender of last resort for some troubled companies in the cryptocurrency space.
But the most prominent acquisition belongs to Elon Musk, who reached an agreement to acquire Twitter for $44 billion. Musk offered to pay $54.20 per share. It is noted that Twitter stock closed on Thursday at $37.39.
The world’s richest man said in an interview with Bloomberg last month that there are “some outstanding issues” before the transaction can be completed. “There is a limit to what I can say publicly,” he had said. “It’s a bit of a sensitive issue.”
Source: Capital
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