Billionaires have had a bad year.
Globally, the world’s billionaires lost nearly $2 trillion combined in 2022, according to Forbes. America’s billionaires lost a combined $660 billion, the most of any country by Forbes’ count, as tech stock prices took a narrow dive driven by rising interest rates, rising inflation and a worsening economy.
Of America’s billionaires, Tesla, SpaceX and newly minted Twitter boss Elon Musk saw their fortunes drop the most. Musk’s net worth fell by about $115 billion this year, according to Forbes.
In October, when Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, he sold about $23 billion in Tesla stock to finance the acquisition. He has since acknowledged that this deal was an “obvious” overpayment. Recently he confirmed his plans to step down as CEO of the social media platform once he finds a suitable replacement.
Tesla’s stock price is down nearly 70% year-to-date, as of December 27th. Longtime Tesla investors are urging the board to get Musk to focus on the electric car company.
Although Musk lost his spot as the richest person in the world this year, he remains the richest person in the United States, with a net worth of nearly $139 billion per year. December 27, according to Forbes.
And while Musk is “the biggest loser in 2022,” according to this publication, he’s not the only billionaire whose net worth took a hit. Here’s how much five other American billionaires lost in 2022, according to Forbes.
1. Jeff Bezos
Title: Founder and Chairman, Amazon
Estimated loss in 2022: -80 billion dollars
Net worth: 106.8 billion dollars per 27 Dec
2. Mark Zuckerberg
Title: Co-founder, Meta Platforms (Facebook’s parent company)
Estimated loss in 2022: -78 billion dollars
Net worth: 42.7 billion dollars per 27 Dec
3. Larry Page
Title: Co-Founder and Board Member, Google
Estimated loss in 2022: -40 billion dollars
Net worth: 76.8 billion dollars per 27 Dec
4. Phil Knight
Title: Chair, Nike
Estimated loss in 2022: -$18.3 billion
Net worth: 45.2 billion dollars per 27 Dec
5. Leonard Lauder
Title: Chair emeritus, The Estée Lauder Companies
Estimated loss in 2022: -9.8 billion dollars
Net worth: 22 billion dollars per 27 Dec
Some high-profile moguls dropped entirely from the 2022 billionaires list. Rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, dropped from the ranks after Adidas cut ties with him on Oct. 25 amid his continued anti-Semitic remarks, for example.
And Sam Bankman-Fried went from Fortune magazine cover star to would-be criminal. The founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, who is now facing fraud charges, saw his net worth drop by billions after FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11.
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