Musk Lost 80 Trillion, Zhao Changpeng Lost 100 Trillion... Top 500 Billionaires' Wealth Decreased by 1817 Trillion Won

Elon Musk (right), CEO of Tesla, is having a conversation with Chris Anderson, TED CEO, at the 'TED 2022 Conference' held in Vancouver, Canada, on April 14 (local time). [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] It has been revealed that the world's leading wealthy individuals experienced losses in their assets during the first half of this year. This contrasts with their situation during the COVID-19 pandemic when various economic stimulus measures significantly increased their wealth.

On the 1st (local time), Bloomberg News reported, citing its billionaire index, that the combined wealth of the top 500 richest people worldwide decreased by $1.4 trillion (?1,817.2 trillion) over the past six months.

According to the report, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the world's richest person, saw his wealth decline by nearly $62 billion (?80.476 trillion). Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the second richest billionaire, also lost about $63 billion (?81.774 trillion).

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, recorded a loss of $65.5 billion (?85.019 trillion) due to a sharp drop in the company's stock price, causing him to fall to 17th place in the billionaire rankings.

Some billionaires affected by the cryptocurrency collapse include Zhao Changpeng, CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Over the past six months, he lost assets worth $80 billion (?103.84 trillion) due to the cryptocurrency market crash. Known as a Chinese-Canadian, he first appeared on Bloomberg's billionaire index in January with assets of approximately $96 billion (?124.608 trillion).

Additionally, Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, reportedly saw his wealth decrease by $23.4 billion (?30.3732 trillion). Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and a master investor, lost $14.1 billion (?18.3018 trillion). Earlier in the first quarter, Buffett had increased his wealth through value investing during the market downturn. However, he was unable to avoid the impact of the U.S. stock market crash in the first half of the year, which marked the worst performance in 52 years.

On the other hand, some billionaires increased their wealth. Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group and known as an energy tycoon in India, and Mukesh Ambani saw their assets grow by $22.1 billion (?28.6858 trillion) and $3 billion (approximately ?4 trillion), respectively. These energy company leaders, operating in petrochemicals and other sectors, benefited from the rise in commodity prices such as oil despite the global stock market downturn.

Meanwhile, some analysts suggest that the global billionaires who suffered asset losses may use this period as an opportunity for corporate acquisitions. This is explained by the fact that they have accumulated a level of wealth in recent years that they can comfortably endure. The report cited examples such as Musk's Twitter acquisition deal and the cryptocurrency exchange FTX's acquisition of Robinhood shares. Son Perkin, CEO of asset management firm Papamakou Welner, predicted that they will seek opportunities to buy other companies cheaply during the stock price slump.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.