World’s Top 25 Billionaires Gain Nearly $255 Billion in Two Months

At the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March, it was reported that the top 10 global billionaires had lost a total of 83 billion dollars with Jeff Bezos as the biggest loser. The narrative has taken a different turn over the past two months as the top 25 global billionaires are a lot richer than they were two months ago, with a total of $255 billion. The list put together by Forbes only considered billionaires on their list with fortunes tied to public stocks worth nearly $1.5 trillion, about 16% of the total wealth in possession of the world’s billionaires.

Topping the list of biggest dollar gainer is Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. In the last two months Facebook shares jumped nearly 60%, hitting a new high record on May 22. With the introduction of ‘Shops’ by Facebook more investors picked interest in the company shares. Through this new development, Facebook will host digital storefronts for small business owners who use Facebook to promote their businesses. With a current net worth of $86 billion, Zuckerberg has become the fourth richest person in the world, moving up from the 7th position on Forbes’ 2020 World’s Billionaires list, beating Warren Buffett, Amancio Ortega, and Larry Ellison.

Next to Zuckerberg on the list of biggest dollar gainer is the world’s richest man and Amazon founder/CEO Jeff Bezos. Over the past two months, Amazon shares surged 29% since March 23. At the close of Friday, Bezos was worth $146.9 billion, up 26% and 30 billion.

Topping the biggest percentage gainer category is Colin Zheng Huang founder of Pinduoduo, China’s second-largest eCommerce platform, behind Alibaba. Through a strategic social shopping model approach, the company has been able to get more users to share purchases with friends and family at subsidized deals, boosting the company’s campaigns. Since March 23, Pinduoduo shares have nearly doubles, and Huang has added nearly $18 billion to his fortune, making him the third-richest person in China with a net worth of $35.6 billion.

Another top gainer on the top 25 global billionaires’ list is Mukesh Ambani who has since become the richest person in Asia following Facebook’s announcement to invest $5.7 billion into Reliance Jio. The company also raised an additional $1.5 billion from KKR, a private equity giant, and $750 million from Silver Lake, an investment firm. In all, the company has amassed $10 billion worth of new capital within a month. This has placed Ambani on the top spot of Asia’s richest men with a net worth of $52.7 billion.

In all, the major distinguishing factor amongst global billionaires is that those with stakes tied to technology companies have seen a massive increase in their gains and net worth since March 23. The Nasdaq composite index became positive earlier this month, up 37% since March 23. Whereas the S&P 500 and Dow Jones are both up 31% and down 10% and 15% respectively, for the year.

Source: Forbes (The net worth change is from Monday, March 23, to Friday, May 22).