Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos among world billionaires who lost over Rs 1 lakh crore in first half of 2022

Several global billionaires, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault and Changpeng Zhao have lost billions in the first half of 2022.

According to media reports, this is the steepest six-month drop ever for the billionaires. This sudden decline has affected the world’s 500 richest people.

Interestingly, the reasons for this declining wealth are not directly aligned to Covid-19 pandemic. While the central banks and governments across the globe has introduced stimulus measure to cope with the Covid affecting economy, this decline is a bit different.

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One of the main reasons for the declining fortune of billionaires is that policymakers have hiked interest rates to combat rising inflation.

The revised interest rates have pushed Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. to witness its worst quarter ever in the three months through June.

As per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Elon Musk is the wealthiest man in the world. With a net worth of $209.5 billion, the business tycoon beats Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault who have net worth of $129.6 billion and $128.7 billion respectively.

According to the President of Papamarkou Wellner Asset Management – Thorne Perkin, the billionaire class has enough money to withstand the worst first half since 1970 for the S&P 500 Index.

While the global stock markets have witnessed a major blow amidst Russia-Ukraine war, Russia’s Vladimir Potanin managed to acquire Societe Generale SA’s entire position in Rosbank PJSC.