Swooning markets Thursday cost the world’s 500 richest people US$93 billion in net worth, and 20 of them lost at least US$1 billion each.
Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, saw his fortune drop by US$5.3 billion to US$113.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as his Amazon.com Inc tumbled 4.7 per cent on the day. Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett’s wealth dropped US$3.5 billion and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg lost US$3.4 billion.
Elon Musk came back to Earth, dropping US$1.1 billion in net worth after his Space Exploration Technologies successfully launched a Tesla sports car on a journey around the sun. Shares of Tesla, which he also leads, plunged 8.6 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index both tumbled to their lowest levels since November as fears of rising interest rates and inflation intensified.