The year 2022 is not very good from the point of view of the great fortunes. That also affects technology billionaires who see how they are less wealthy this year, in some cases with millionaire losses. These losses affect entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates.
Looking at the recent update of Bloomberg’s list of the 500 richest people in the world, there are many things we can take away. One of the most interesting is that tech billionaires will see their fortunes decline in 2022.
Moreover, these losses are even greater in those entrepreneurs whose sources of income are especially related to a large company or focus of wealth. That is the case with Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates.
How much money are tech billionaires losing in 2022?
If we break down the losses that the technological rich have suffered in 2022, we see that in some cases, they are multimillion.
In this ranking of reversal of their fortune, we can find, for example:
- Jeff Bezos: a setback of $53.2 billion.
- Elon Musk: who would have lost about 46 billion dollars.
- Bill Gates: who has seen his fortune reduced by just over $15 billion.
In the first two cases, both Bezos and Musk can explain this decline in their money by the large drop in the value of their companies’ shares. Let’s remember that at this point, Tesla has decreased its worth by around 37% so far in 2022. For its part, Amazon is already close to a loss in the value of its shares of about 30%.
There is no single explanation for the losses in the value of these companies. Many aspects have influenced, from the war in Ukraine to the chip crisis, scarcity problems, basic minerals in technological manufacturing, etc.
A complex market like the current one directly impacts large technology companies. At the same time, entrepreneurs who are so dependent on revenues from a single company see their fortunes shrink in situations like the current one.
It is also important that we do not forget the economic moves that all these businessmen have made this year—for example, Elon Musk’s purchase (or alleged purchase) of Twitter.
Have all the rich lost part of their fortunes?
Not all but many of them. We can find an example in those entrepreneurs in sectors most affected by the crisis, such as those involved in food, services, etc.
Two examples could be the losses of spanish Amancio Ortega, Zara’s owner, with a decline in the value of his fortune of more than 17 billion dollars. Another is how the wealth of the third richest person in the world, Bernard Arnault, has decreased by almost 45 billion dollars so far in 2022.
But some have made money. One example is the legendary investor Warren Buffet, whose policy of investment diversification has brought in profits of more than 6.5 billion dollars in the first five months of the year. The most notable rise was that of Indian industrialist Gautam Adani, who has increased his wealth by at least 25 billion dollars so far in 2022.