After a strong upswing in the previous two years, the net assets of tech moguls have taken a nosedive this year. Magnates like Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos are billions poorer. But there are winners, too.
Billionaires have had a rough year. Together, the world's super-rich are nearly $2 trillion poorer than at the start of the year, and no one has been hit harder than the world's 300 or so tech billionaires, whose fortunes are estimated to have shrunk by more than $1 trillion in 2022.
Nevertheless, tech luminaries such as Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg won't be starving. Regardless of the devastating losses, they are anything but destitute and remain among the richest people around the globe.
Capital Destruction Machine
Facebook founder Zuckerberg, who was once one of the ten richest people in the world, may have lost nearly $81 billion in net worth this year. He is still worth about $45 billion, which is more than the gross domestic product of Iceland, according to the «Washington Post» reported.
The Meta Platforms CEO saw the largest percentage drop in wealth among tech moguls, with his net worth shrinking 64 percent. His Metaverse plans did not convince shareholders, as many investors seem to classify such «virtual» ambitions as an extremely efficient capital destruction machine.
Tesla Boss Disenchanted
Of the «Magnificent Seven,» Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, suffered the greatest loss of wealth in absolute terms, his wealth falling by $132 billion, although he is still left with about as much money as he lost with $139 billion. This setback dethroned him as the world's richest person. Bernard Arnault, with his luxury empire LVMH, has a fortune estimated at around $181 billion.
Amazon founder Bezos recorded the second largest decline in net worth with a decrease of $84.1 billion but fared better than Musk and Zuckerberg in percentage terms. His fortune decreased 44 percent to $108 billion.
Former Microsoft Captains Fare Better
Google's founders, Brin and Page, lost $43.4 billion and $44.6 billion, respectively, their coffers dwindling by about 35 percent. Brin now tips the scales at $80.2 billion and Page at around $83.8 billion.
Two former Microsoft executives Gates and Ballmer held up comparatively well. Microsoft founder Gates ended 2022 at about $28.7 billion, about 21 percent, lighter at $109 billion. Former CEO Ballmer lost $20.2 billion, or about 19 percent, dropping to $85.5 billion.
Music Plays TikTok
Even if tech magnates were generally on the losing side, 2022 did produces some isolated winners. Chinese Internet entrepreneur Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok parent company ByteDance, increased his fortune by more than $10 billion to nearly $55 billion.
