We already know that 2022 was a torrid year for markets – but the extent of the damage to the top 500 richest people in the world has finally been quantified, and the damage is nothing short of massive.
According to Bloomberg, the richest 500 people in the world – consisting of names like Elon Musk, and even Sam Bankman-Fried, lost a stunning $1.4 billion throughout the course of the year as Russia’s war on Ukraine and inflation catalyzed an ugly year for equity markets.
Musk, in addition to Jeff Bezos, Changpeng Zhao and Mark Zuckerberg, saw a combined $392 billion in paper wealth evaporate over the course of the year. For Musk, the damage was considerable – he’s worth $138 billion less than he was when the year started, Bloomberg reported.
But it wasn’t all losses for the super rich throughout the year. The report noes that the Kochs and the Mars families both saw an uptick in their fortunes. Bloomberg also reported that sports franchises also became more valuable in 2022 than they were the year prior.
The report broke down the biggest losses on a per-month basis for 2022.
In January, Musk lost $25.8 billion when Tesla warned about its business due to supply challenges. In February, Russian oligarchs saw $46.6 billion in wealth evaporate as a result of Western sanctions due to the war in Ukraine. In March, China was the victim when $64.6 billion due to “trenuous Covid-containment efforts, a buckling property market, heightened scrutiny of the tech industry and trade tensions with the US.”
In April, Musk started what would become his eventual bid for Twitter, making a plan to borrow up to $21 billion in cash to finance the purchase. In May, soccer team Chelsea is bought for $5.25 billion – the highest price ever paid for a sports team. Shortly thereafter, in June, the Denver Broncos sells for $4.65 billion.
Heading into the summer, pain for Chinese homebuyers continued, causing Yang Huiyan to lose the title of Asia’s wealthiest woman. By the time the fall came around, Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth is down $71 billion on the year. He’ll eventually fall 19 ranks on the Bloomberg wealth index, the report says.
In November, FTX collapsed after its liquidity crisis, causing Sam Bankman-Fried’s once $26 billion net worth to go to zero. Binance CEO Zhao saw his wealth fall by about $84 billion in the same month, while anyone with bitcoin exposure felt the sting of FTX’s collapse.
You can read Bloomberg’s full feature here.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 12/30/2022 – 08:34
