The pandemic is accentuating a trend among billionaires, according to a widely-read annual report on the ultra-rich.
The world's super-rich are growing wealthier than ever in the pandemic: the total wealth of the 2,000 richest swelled to $10.2 trillion – a record – by July, according to an annual study compiled by UBS and PwC and released on Wednesday.
But certain billionaires – specifically those invested in healthcare and technology – benefited far more than their colleagues who were heavily focused on other industries, according to the study. A pandemic-pushed surge in digitization as well as health- and medical-related products and services fueled the rise.
Crisis Deepens Divide
In other words, a wealth gap is growing among the super-rich, a segment overseen at UBS by Josef Stadler, one of the Swiss bank's longest-standing private bankers.
In the last two years, the wealth of so-called innovators and disruptors, as the study calls them, grew by $774 billion, while that of «traditional» billionaires grew by $210 billion (see graph below). «The corona crisis massively deepened this divide,» Stadler said.
Fortunes built on finance, commodities, and media recorded the slowest growth, according to the study. Stadler now runs UBS' global family office, a joint venture between its investment bank and flagship wealth arm. The division was restructured earlier this year to make it more efficient and faster.
Geriatric Home Market
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