The stock market crash of US tech giants in 2022 cost billions of dollars the richest people in the world.
Long considered the richest person in the world, South African Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and SpaceX, was pushed out of the top spot by French luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk has lost $140 billion since January. Even so, his fortune is $130 billion.
This spectacular decline is mainly due to the collapse of Tesla on Wall Street (-69% as of December 28).
electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla It was once an investor favorite, but its stock has plummeted since Musk bought Twitter in late October for $44 billion.
As soon as Musk took over the social network, his decisions generated controversy, such as the firing of half of the company’s staff or the reopening of former US President Donald Trump’s account. which had been shut down for inciting violence.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has stepped up efforts to promote the metaverse, the virtual world presented by his promoters like the future of the Internet.
However, the metaverse hasn’t attracted investors, as evidenced by the crash in the price of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which has lost 66% in share value since the start of the year.
Zuckerberg and Bezos, losers?
Zuckerberg’s fortune was reduced by 81,000 million dollars, a 44.400 million.
Heavily dependent on advertising revenue, Meta has also suffered from global inflation and increased competition.
Since leaving as Amazon CEO in July 2021, Jeff Bezos has devoted much of his time to space exploration with his company Blue Origin.
His wealth, however, remains closely linked to the value of Amazon shares, the giant of online commerce, which have decreased by more than 49% in 2022.
Chief executive officer of Amazon’s board, Bezos has lost more than $86 billion this year. Your luck will estimated at $106 billion.
Also an owner of The Washington Post, the 58-year-old told CNN in November that he planned to donate most of his fortune to charity.
The case of Alphabet (Google)
Google’s two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are no longer at the helm of the company since stepping down from their management positions at the parent company in 2019. alphabetwhich also includes YouTube and the email service gmail.
However, they sit on the board of directors of Alphabet, of which they are the largest individual shareholders.
A 39% drop in Alphabet’s shares since January, which has slumped its ad revenue and is pitting against rivals like TikTok, has weighed on the fortunes of both.
Page is down $46.1 billion and Brin is down $46.1 billion 44.800 million.
But they are still among the richest people in the world: Page is in 10th place, with $82.3 billion, and Brin in 11th, with $78.8 billion.
TikTok (ByteDance), the exception
Chinese billionaire Zhang Yiming is an exception in the tech debacle.
The fortune of the owner of ByteDance, the parent company of Tick tockgrew by $10,400 million in 2022, to $55,000 million, making it the 23rd richest person in the world.
But TikTok is being targeted by US authorities, who are concerned about possible links between the popular video-sharing app and the Chinese government.
President Joe Biden’s Administration Bans TikTok from Installing on Federal Employees’ Phones and Could Force ByteDance to Sell the US version of the app.
Source: Clarin
Linda Price is a tech expert at News Rebeat. With a deep understanding of the latest developments in the world of technology and a passion for innovation, Linda provides insightful and informative coverage of the cutting-edge advancements shaping our world.