The world’s wealthiest 20 tech billionaires have lost a staggering half a trillion dollars in 2022 alone due to the stock market’s sharp tumble, rocketing interest rates and record inflation.
The richest tech moguls include Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison and have seen more than $480 billion of their wealth wiped away according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index which ranks the richest people in the world on a daily basis.
Their financial woes were further compounded this week with a slew of tech giants reporting disappointing earnings.
On Thursday Mark Zuckerberg saw his wealth drop a further $11 billion, meaning his net worth has now plummeted more than $100 billion in a little over a year.
Meta reported a decline in revenue for the second consecutive quarter this week.
The company has struggled to come out on top after sinking $70 billion into the Metaverse, its immersive virtual world that has been mocked for containing never-ending empty rooms after failing to attract users.
The company’s revenue slowed for a second straight quarter and raised fresh questions about Meta’s plans to pour more money – at least $10 billion a year – into the virtual realm, as investors raise doubts about growth.
The 20 richest tech billionaires have lost nearly half a trillion dollars this year Moguls including Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have collectively lost more on paper than the market values of most S&P 500 companies
Mark Zuckerberg has seen his wealth drop a further $11 billion, meaning his net worth has now plummeted more than $100 billion in a little over a year
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his wealth drop by another $11 billion this week after another poor quarterly report, and the massive drop-off has topped $100 billion since last September
The company is also being hurt by falling advertising sales as it faces competition from TikTok’s wildly popular video app.
The Menlo Park, California, company earned $4.4 billion, or $1.64 per share, in the three-month period that ended Sept. 30. That’s down 52% from, $9.19 billion, or $3.22 per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Tech companies experienced strong growth at the start of the pandemic but now high levels of inflation, rising interest rates coupled with a slowing of digital advertising growth have caused earnings to tank with companies now becoming more cost conscious and laying off staff.
The Nasdaq, which consists mainly of tech companies, has fallen by 29 percent in 2022. Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have each seen more than $58 billion in wealth wiped away this year.
In the last week alone, Musk’s net worth has risen from $200billion to $212 billion, according to estimates by Bloomberg.
From being just shy of $20billion in 2019, the newly crowned ‘Chief Twit’ has amassed fortunes at an alarming rate, hitting currently unbeatable figures of $212billion.
In a week where Musk’s Twitter deal was being finalized, Musk’s net worth continued to grow even higher – but he has lost $58.6 billion over the last year
Musk announced his Twitter takeover with a post saying: ‘the bird is freed’ before firing top executives at the company
Musk has seen his net worth rise by around $10billion in the last week, according to Bloomberg
Amazon found Jeff Bezos with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez
He overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2021 to become the world’s richest man and later became the first person to have a net worth over $300billion.
In a week where his Twitter deal was being finalized, his net worth continued to grow even higher.
A significant amount of Musk’s net worth is said to come from his stocks in automobile company Tesla, which he first invested into and became majority shareholder in 2004. He later became the CEO in 2008.
Despite Musk insisting that he does not believe in selling his shares, he was forced to sell around $7billion of his Tesla stock ahead of his court battles with Twitter.
His stake in Tesla – which is the bulk of his net worth – is now valued at roughly $120billion. However, according to FactSet, at the end of September, his stake stood at 14.9% of its outstanding shares – an investment valued at about $124 billion.
In addition to his Tesla wealth and now his new $44billion Twitter deal, his endeavors with SpaceX have generated stakes worth around $47billion.
On Wednesday, the billionaire posted a video of himself walking into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink with the caption: ‘Entering Twitter HQ, let that sink in’
Bill Gates (pictured) saw his wealth fall by $28.7bn to $109bn
The three companies put together create the estimate for his staggering net worth.
Among other business ventures, Musk also owns The Boring Company, which aims to defeat traffic using underground tunnels.
It is believed, alongside his business interests, that Musk also has a number of high-value properties.
Jeff Bezos’ wealth meanwhile, is valued at $134 billion.
Amazon’s shares fell 7 percent on Friday as Wall Street was disappointed with the company’s sales forecast for the current quarter, which fell short of analysts’ expectations.
The 58-year-old has a near-10 per cent stake in the firm he founded in 1994, making him the world’s fourth richest person.
Even one of the most successful investors in the world Warren Buffet lost $7.53bn over the past year leaving him with $101bn
But shares fell after warning Christmas sales would be weaker than expected and profits could be eliminated.
Amazon shares have fallen around 40 per cent this year.
Bill Gates saw his wealth fall by $28.7bn to $109bn.
Even one of the most successful investors in the world Warren Buffet lost $7.53bn over the past year leaving him with $101bn.
Earlier this year, Buffett lambasted Wall Street at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, telling investors that the market encourages risky behavior in the stock market that turns it into a ‘gambling parlor.’
Buffett, 91, criticized investment banks and brokerages to a crowd of tens of thousands of investors at his annual shareholder meeting at Omaha Arena, saying that Wall Street makes ‘a lot more money when people are gambling than when they’re investing.’
‘It’s much better to have somebody that’s going to trade 20 times a day and get all excited about it – just like pulling the handle on the slot machine,’ he said.
‘You may not say you’d want that person… but that’s where you make the money. The degree to which the market got dominated by that is showing.’
‘Wall Street makes money, one way or another, catching the crumbs that fall off the table of capitalism,’ he said. ‘They don’t make money unless people do things, and they get a piece of them.’
The richest person in Beijing was Zhang Yiming, the founder of video-sharing app TikTok, and the CEO of its parent firm ByteDance (pictured)
Large American companies have become ‘poker chips’ for market speculation, he said, citing an increase in call options and said brokers make more money off bets than simple investments.
The co-founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have also seen losses of more than $40 billion in paper wealth this year. Their losses were dented further this week after parent company Alphabet reported its first-ever drop in YouTube year-over-year ad sales.
Of the 20 richest tech billionaires, just two have managed to add wealth to their bottom lines since the start of the year.
TikTok founder Zhang Yiming’s wealth rose by $10.4 billion and he’s now currently worth $54.9 billion.
Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera is the founder of Ubiquiti, a wireless equipment manufacturer, which manufactures in southern China and reportedly derives about 10 percent of its revenue from Asia.
His wealth went up $1.3 billion, giving him a net worth of $14.7 billion.
Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera (left) is the founder of Ubiquiti, a wireless equipment manufacturer, which manufactures in southern China and reportedly derives about 10 percent of its revenue from Asia
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