As the sun sets on 2022, the year hasn’t been quite promising for ang of the tech billionaires. Though they still have vast fortunes for generations to come, the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg bled billions despite the wealth spike in the post pandemic year. There were a lot of factors that triggered the wealth loss in 2022. Looming recession and ongoing inflation added to the woe amid stiff competition and emergence of new power players in the horizon. According to Forbes estimates the wealthiest on the planet lost a staggering $1.4 trillion during the year.
, the wealthiest people on the planet lost a staggering $1.4 trillion during the year. From $13.8 trillion on January 1 to $11.9 trillion on December 9 is a figure that comes on the back of Russia’s Ukrainian aggression that led to a lot of financial disruption adding chaos to an already tail spinning economy after Covid19. American Billionaires smoked over $660 billion up the chimney. Chinese billionaires lost $620 billion, followed by Russian billionaires who lost $470 billion.
Dubbed as the ‘biggest loser of 2022’ by Forbes, Musk lost nearly $115 billion during 2022. While part of it is to be blamed on his whimsical acquisition of the bird app for $44 billion that has had adverse effects on Tesla stocks. Most of Musk’s wealth is anyway tied to his Tesla stocks and its valuation. The new landlord of Twitter lost his world’s richest billionaire status to fashion mogul Bernard Arnault very recently. With Musk’s own prediction of an economically recessive 2023, it would be a difficult ride for the world’s second richest tech tycoon.