The global markets bloodbath this week caused by the coronavirus pandemic took a definite bite out of the wealth of the world’s richest.
The top twenty billionaires lost over $78 billion in combined wealth in a single day on Thursday, according to Forbes.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos turned out the biggest loser as his net worth dropped by $8 billion. The Amazon CEO saw his wealth shrink by more than seven percent as the company’s shares dropped by nearly eight percent.
CEO of French luxury conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault, suffered a $7.7 billion loss. The world’s third-richest person finished the day with $82.5 billion, after shares in LVMH closed nearly nine percent lower. The luxury retail industry was hit hard by the effect of the global virus on demand for luxury goods in China and Europe.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also felt the impact. He has lost $5.7 billion as Facebook shares plunged by more than nine percent. The net worth of Oracle founder Larry Ellison slid by $5.6 billion as the company’s shares slumped 11 percent.
The billionaires’ losses came as the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and the Dow all closed more than nine percent lower Thursday. The cascade of bans and cancellations caused by the Covid-19 alert around the globe sent US stocks to their worst losses since the ‘Black Monday’ of 1987, officially falling into bear market territory.
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