- The world's richest people lost $250 billion in wealth in the first 6 months of 2022, per Bloomberg.
- Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have lost a combined $120 billion this year.
- Some coal and oil magnates on the Billionaires Index became richer as commodity prices soared.
The world's 10 richest people, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have suffered a $250 billion fall in their net worth this year.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires' Index, those on the list have become less wealthy due to the fall on US stock markets in 2022. Holdings in the companies they founded account for a large proportion of their net worth.
Stock markets have experienced their worst first half to the year since 1970, with the S&P 500 shedding more than a fifth of its value.
It means people like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, along with Musk, Bezos, and Bernard Arnault, CEO of Louis Vuitton owner LVMH, have taken big hits to their fortunes. The vast majority of billionaires on the 500-strong index are worth far less than at the beginning of the year.
The loss, equivalent to about 1.2% of the US economy, has been felt most acutely by Musk and Bezos, who have shed a combined $120 billion from their wealth since the start of the year.
Tesla's share price has slumped by 43% this year, due to economic uncertainty and Musk's attempt to buy Twitter, while Amazon shares are down more than 35% since the beginning of 2022.
However, the two Indians on the list, Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, have enjoyed increases in their net worth of $22.1 billion and $3.05 billion respectively.
Adani runs ports and India's largest coalmine, benefitting from rising commodity prices this year amid tight supply chains and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ambani, an industrialist, likewise owns the world's largest oil refinery complex, another commodity that has soared since Russia invaded Ukraine.