Forbes released its list of the 400 richest Americans on Tuesday, with Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, in the lead, having his fortune valued at $ 251 billion. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ranks second, and loses the position of richest man in the United States for the first time since 2017. Microsoft’s Bill Gates completes the podium in third place in the ranking.
With rising inflation and stagnant markets in the US, the country’s 20 richest group in 2022 suffered a loss of US$ 235 billion compared to last year, adding up to a fortune of US$ 1.6 trillion. The number is nearly half of the $500 billion lost across the entire Forbes list.
This represents a reversal of the scenario seen last year, when the top 20 billionaires on the list added $500 billion to their fortunes, riding a soaring share price at the time.
Mark Zuckerberg lost the most money this year, leaving the top 10 on the list for the first time since 2014. Meta’s CEO faces a 57% drop in the company’s shares, which took almost $74 billion from his equity. Jeff Bezos lost $50 billion, the second biggest drop in the rankings.
Despite heavy losses, 6 of the top 20 billionaires managed to increase their fortunes, such as Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor and co-founder of Bloomberg, and Charles Koch, chairman and CEO of Koch Industries.
The biggest gainer was Musk, who added $60.5 billion to his fortune in a year, largely through an 11% increase in Tesla shares and a new round of funding that valued his rocket maker SpaceX at $US. $127 billion.
The Tesla owner also surpassed Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world, with $100 billion more than the Amazon founder in his fortune.
See who are the 10 richest in the US, according to Forbes
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