The financial market turmoil triggered by tariff hikes has persisted, causing significant losses in the net worth of some billionaires. Since the so - called 'reciprocal tariff' policy was announced, the world's 500 richest people lost a total of $536 billion during the subsequent stock trading days last week, marking the largest wealth loss in the history of the 'Billionaires Index'.
Among those affected, Elon Musk, the world's richest man and the CEO of Tesla, suffered the most severe losses. As Tesla's stock price declined, Musk's net worth shrank by $31 billion on April 3rd and 4th. His total personal wealth loss this year is estimated to have reached $130 billion. On April 7th, Tesla's stock price continued to fall by nearly 5%.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the social media platform, came next. He lost more than $27 billion on April 3rd and 4th. The stock price of Meta, the parent company of the platform, dropped by nearly 14% in two days. On April 7th, its stock price rebounded slightly by nearly 1%. This year, Zuckerberg's personal wealth has evaporated by more than $28 billion.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of the e - commerce website and the owner of a major newspaper, lost $23.5 billion. It was reported that the market value of his company has shrunk by thousands of billions of dollars this year. Since over 50% of the sales on its platform come from Chinese third - party sellers and its cloud service mainly relies on Asian manufacturers' technology, it is greatly affected by the tariff hikes.
Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of a French luxury goods giant, has seen his wealth evaporate by $45 billion this year. Due to the impact of tariff hikes on clothing factories in Asia, Arnault lost $6 billion on April 3rd and more than $5 billion on April 4th. His group's stock price further declined by more than 4% on April 7th. It was reported that Arnault has been a friend of the current leader since the early 1980s, and the US is the largest market for his luxury goods, with a scale equivalent to the total sales of all European countries. Arnault attended the inauguration ceremony with his wife and children this year.
However, not every billionaire's net worth is shrinking. Warren Buffett, the largest shareholder of an American investment company and the so - called 'Stock God', has actually seen an increase in his personal wealth this year. Although he lost $2.57 billion during the stock market crash on April 3rd and 4th, his net worth has increased by $12.7 billion this year. It was mentioned that on April 4th, the current leader shared a video on social media claiming that Buffett had praised his recently announced economic policies. Subsequently, Buffett's company issued a statement saying that the claim about Buffett's comments on tariff policies on social media was false.
