The world's 500 richest people saw their fortunes fall by a combined $208 billion on Thursday, April 3. Elon Musk, in particular, lost $11 billion in a single day. This is the result of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs that have thrown global markets into chaos.
This drop was the largest since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Bloomberg.
More than half of the world's richest people, tracked by the publication, lost an average of 3.3% of their fortunes. American billionaires were particularly affected - Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon creator Jeff Bezos were among the leaders in losses.
Mark Zuckerberg. Meta's 9% drop in shares saw his personal fortune fall by $17.9 billion, or nearly 9% of his total wealth. Meta had been the tech giant's top performer at the start of the year, but its shares have fallen 28% since peaking in mid-February.
Jeff Bezos. Amazon shares fell 9%, their biggest drop since April 2022. It cost Bezos $15.9 billion in personal wealth. The company's shares are down 25% since February.
Elon Musk. He has lost $110 billion since the beginning of the year, $11 billion of which was this Thursday alone. The reason is Tesla's weak sales and his controversial role in Trump's team as "efficiency curator". A few days ago, the situation seemed promising: since Tesla makes many cars in the US, it could be less affected by the tariffs. There were also rumors that Musk was going to leave government service and return to Tesla. But after the tariffs were announced, the company's shares fell by 5.5%.
Ernest Garcia III. The CEO of Carvana lost $1.4 billion after his company's shares fell 20%. They are up 425% over the past year, but are down 36% since mid-February.
Toby Lutk. The CEO and co-founder of Shopify lost $1.5 billion (17% of his fortune) as the company's stock fell 20% due to its heavy reliance on imports.
Bernard Arnault. The European Union is preparing for a new 20 percent tariff on all goods exported to the United States. This will hit the alcohol and luxury goods markets. The French conglomerate LVMH, which is owned by Arnault and includes the Christian Dior, Bulgari and Loro Piana brands, has taken a hit - its shares have fallen and the owner's fortune has decreased by $6 billion.
Zhang Kongyuan. The founder of Chinese shoemaker Huali Industrial Group lost $1.2 billion (13% of his fortune). The reason was an additional 34% US tariff on Chinese goods, which caused the company's shares to collapse. Shoemakers in the US and Europe also suffered: Nike, Lululemon and Adidas lost double-digit percentages in share value.
As Apostrophe reported, Trump's decision to impose large-scale tariffs on trading partners will not only have serious changes in global trade. It is likely that the Americans themselves will pay the highest price .