Billionaires Get $1 Trillion Richer in 2021 Amid Covid Crisis

The combined fortunes of the world’s 500 richest people increased by more than $1 trillion (BRL 5.57 trillion) in 2021, according to the Bloomberg Agency’s Billionaires Index.

The combined net worth of this club now exceeds US$8.4 trillion (R$46.9 trillion), more than the individual GDP of all countries except China and the United States.

Ten fortunes surpass the US$ 100 billion mark (R$ 557.9 billion). That dozen superbillionaires got nearly US$386 billion (R$2.15 trillion) richer. More than 200 assets exceed US$ 10 billion (R$ 55.8 billion), something unprecedented in history, according to the agency.

At the top of the ranking, Elon Musk was US$114 billion richer, totaling US$270 billion. The annual gain exceeded 70% for SpaceX founder and president of electric car factory Tesla.

Second richest person in the world, Jeff Bezos earned another $2 billion. Amazon’s founder closed the year with $192 billion in cash.

Bernard Arnault, president of the Louis Vuitton group, has $178 billion. Of this total, US$ 66.6 billion were accumulated last year, which ensured Arnault the position of third richest on the planet.

Bill Gates ended the year in fourth place, with US$ 138 billion, US$ 6.4 billion more than in 2020.

Larry Page, co-founder of Google, made a fortune of $128 billion by making $46 billion last year.

Today’s sixth-largest billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg made $22 billion rich. The Facebook co-founder closed 2021 with $125 billion.

The best positioned Brazilian on the list of the greatest wealth owners, Jorge Paulo Lemann lost US$ 2.3 billion. The entrepreneur in the food sector was ranked 82nd, with a total of US$ 21.5 billion.

In a year in which millions fell into extreme poverty due to the economic consequences of the worsening of the Covid-19 pandemic, the derisively richer fraction obtained extraordinary gains, boosted precisely by measures adopted to ease the impact of the crisis.

Stimuli created by the Fed (Federal Reserve, the US central bank) helped the US stock market deliver record gains this year. Similar situations occurred in the European Union and the United Kingdom. This explains a considerable part of the growth of fortunes.

The S&P 500 index, which brings together shares of the main companies on the New York Stock Exchange, jumped 27.23%. Nasdaq, which concentrates companies in the technology sector, shot 22.14% in 2021.

With inflation reaching the highest level in four decades, the Fed started in late 2021 to reduce the injection of liquidity into the market through the purchase of bonds, in addition to announcing that it will raise the basic interest rates of the economy in 2022.

While Western world billionaires cashed amid threats to raise taxes on large fortunes that were restricted to speeches by politicians, the situation was different in China, highlights the Bloomberg survey.

The Chinese financial elite has had its worst year since the agency began tracking wealth in 2012. Losses exceeded $61 billion.

In 2021, Beijing focused its efforts on advancing its prosperity policy, while it began to regulate more severely indebted sectors.

Hui Ka Yan of the Evergrande Group, once the second-richest person in China, had his net worth reduced by $17 billion in 2021. The real estate magnate was pressured by the government to use his personal wealth to pay off the company’s debts.

Top ten fortunes and earnings in 2021*

*Bloomberg Billionaires Index