Trump tariffs hit world’s billionaires with $208 billion loss
The new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump have led to significant losses in the financial markets, with the world's 500 wealthiest people losing a total of $208 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk were among the biggest losers as a result of this decision, Bloomberg reports.
The announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump of broad tariffs on imported goods caused sharp reactions in global financial markets, resulting in a $208 billion loss for the world's 500 richest individuals.
The drop is the fourth-largest one-day decline in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index’s 13-year history, and the largest since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than half of those tracked by Bloomberg’s wealth index saw their fortunes tumble, with an average decline of 3.3% - it reads.
Only the richest man in Mexico profited
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta Platforms, was the biggest loser, with a loss of $17.9 billion after his company's stock fell by 9 percent. Although Meta was one of the best-performing tech giants, its stock has now decreased by around 28 percent since the February peak.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, also lost $15.9 billion when the stock fell by 9 percent, marking the largest drop since April 2022. Amazon's stock has fallen by over 25 percent since its peak in February.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, lost $11 billion on Thursday. His wealth has already decreased by $110 billion this year, due to his controversial role in the Trump administration and Tesla's supply issues. Tesla's stock drop of 5.5 percent following the tariff announcement further deepened Musk's losses.
Bernard Arnault, owner of LVMH, incurred a $6 billion loss as the drop in his luxury conglomerate's stock was attributed to new tariffs that are likely to negatively affect alcohol and luxury goods exports to the U.S.
Carlos Slim, the richest man in Mexico, was one of the few billionaires to avoid losses. Thanks to Mexico being excluded from the list of reciprocal tariff targets, his wealth increased by 4 percent.
