Billionaires' wealth tumbles in early days of Trump's term
Hundreds of billionaires have lost part of their fortunes during the first 100 days of Donald Trump's latest presidency. According to Forbes, there is little optimism in the markets and the business world. Elon Musk has been the biggest loser due to decisions made by the White House.
"No one has been hit harder than Musk, who is $45 (CAD 63) billion poorer than he was on Trump’s second inauguration day," emphasizes Forbes. The world's richest man has even started criticizing Peter Navarro, Trump's chief economic advisor and a staunch advocate of high tariffs. Recently, Musk announced that he would step down from working at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to focus on his business.
Tesla shares have fallen by over 53% since December 2024, making it the second worst-performing company in the world in terms of percentage drop in value. The market capitalization of the electric car manufacturer has decreased by $795 billion (CAD 1.1 trillion).
Warren Buffett up, Jeff Bezos down
It wasn't just Musk who lost part of his fortune. According to estimates by Forbes, 800 billionaires have lighter wallets, collectively losing $300 (CAD 415) billion since January 20. Among the biggest losers are Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sergey Brin (Google), and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta). The trio lost $34.8 (CAD 48.2) billion, $25.6 (CAD 35.4) billion, and $21.5 (CAD 29.8) billion, respectively, since the inauguration. Meanwhile, Larry Ellison from Oracle lost $28 (CAD 38.8) billion, and Larry Page (Google) lost $27.4 (CAD 37.9) billion. Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of Blackstone, lost less - $11 (CAD 15.2) billion.
However, not everyone lost from Trump's return to the White House. The biggest winner is Warren Buffett, who gained $19.6 (CAD 27.1) billion. Peter Thiel from Facebook earned nearly $5 (CAD 6.9) billion, and Brad Jacobs from XPO Logistics can boast earnings of about $4 (CAD 5.5) billion.
Forbes calculated the billionaires' fortunes based on changes in net value in the markets from January 17 to April 28.
