- A total of 53 billionaires saw their net worth crashing to the lowest mark since joining the index.
- World’s 10 richest billionaires on Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, lose $38 billion on COVID-19.
A small report – Billionaires losing billions of talks about the people who are behind companies that are outperforming in their respective industries. To run a company having worth in billions is itself a challenge. Only strong visionaries – the cream of the crop – can take up this challenge.
Which is why, Marc Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault & Family (people behind our favorite social media platform – Facebook, our everything store – Amazon and our choice when it comes to luxurious pieces – Lois Vuitton) are the faces of world’s largest companies!
But there are times when even the great minds are unable to overcome a totally spontaneous and unplanned situation. That’s the time billionaires are losing billions!
Coronavirus outbreak – COVID-19, a small virus that popped out of nowhere has now become a worldwide threat. We can make a guess when we see Jack Ma – CEO of Alibaba joining Twitter and hoping for the US to stay safe during the outbreak.
COVID-19 didn’t take much time to become a viper of the roads as well as multinationals and the stock markets. Supply falling short of raw materials, closing of offices, restaurants and shopping complexes shutting down, everything is signaling towards a global shutdown. Let’s hope not!
This is the time when billionaires are losing billions to one virus which has a tendency to spread and grow just stocks of an outperforming company grows. In both cases, no one can match this growth.
Billionaires are Losing Billions: Case 1
Vegas is known for its glittering casinos, resorts, and hotels. Day time of the city is as energizing as the evenings are. As the sun goes down, hoardings of Casino bars, parlors and hotels take the responsibility of brightening the streets of the city.
Not to forget shimmering headlights of expensive cars of 21st century’s Richie-rich/es. Let’s talk about the transactions happening in casinos and how much money the leisure services of the city grab because it’s huge!
Appealing isn’t it? The travel and leisure business of Las Vegas is one amazing cash cow. A business is worth billions requires someone who fits on a billion checkpoints of a global billionaire!
Sheldon Adelson – Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands – a casino company. He owns more than half of the $14 billion gambling empire spread in Las Vegas, Singapore, Macao, and China. He is a master dealer in gambling business and knows what kinds of casinos would probably be the center of attraction of travelers.
Sheldon Adelson got into the casino business when he and his partners brought Sands Hotels & Casino in Las Vegas for $128 million. From 1989 till now, the man has been reaping the cash cow and earned in billions.
Dark times are now lingering on the streets of Las Vegas who used to be shimmering with billboards and people. This is the fear of COVID-19. There are casinos, there are hotels but no one visits them. After the coronavirus outbreak, the city had to shut all its entertainment facilities – out of fear and out of the fact that travelers have stopped traveling all of sudden. He lost $11.7 billion since the start of the year as gaming floors emptied and trade shows were canceled.
Billionaires are Losing Billions – Case 2:
You never know what the next morning will bring when a virus is lingering around that doesn’t know its limits. On 9th March, the US stock markets experienced another jerk with major stock indices like S&P500 and Dow Jones going down by more than 7%.
Within hours it was declared as black money – the historic stock market day reportedly triggered multi-billion-dollar losses from some of the richest people around the world.
Bernard Arnault – world’s 3rd richest man suffered greatest losses among the top 10 list. Loosing as much as $6 billion on a single day
It wasn’t just Bernard Arnault, but the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos also felt the shock of coronavirus outbreak. Holding a net worth of $14 billion, saw his fortune come down by $7 billion by the Black Monday’s market was closed. Bezos is said to lose some $18 billion in a month.
Billionaires are Losing Billions – Case3:
Is it the beginning of a global shutdown? Offices are being closed down, employees are asked to work from home and not to travel anywhere for the time being. This might not be the case of a full shutdown, but the paddle slows down, the world feels this slowdown.
Mexico telecom magnate Carlos Slim lost 8% of his fortune to coronavirus outbreak. By loosing $5 billion, he had to settle down with $56.4 billion net worth by end of the day.
Marc Zuckerberg and Larry Page lost $4.2 billion and $3.3 billion, he is no longer on the top 10 billionaires. Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates’s net worth slid by $6.6 billion. But the man still stands strong on the 2nd spot of top 10 billionaires
While offices are closing down, the tech industry also suffers. 5 most valuable tech giants – Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Alphabet lost a total of $21.6 billion in value with Apple alone losing $100 billion.
Russian’s wealthiest two dozen people are down $65 billion this year, partly because of crude oil price war and party because of COVID-19.
How Are Great Minds Reacting to The Outbreak?
There are innumerable cases of billionaires losing billions of dollars due to the virus outbreak but lets’ not flood with all the negative cases and take it as an impossible situation to cope-up with.
World’s richest visionaries are donating to help countries hardest hit by the disease. Bill Gates Foundation committed $100 million to aid global detection, isolation, and treatment of the virus.
Airbnb CEO – Brian Checky announced that the homestay giant will refund the money of its guests in case they cancel their stay due to the fear of disease.
Hedge fund billionaire, Ken Griffin announced his Citadel will donate $7.5 million to one of China’s hardest-hit provinces.
Then we have Jack Ma – CEO of Alibaba. Recently he joined twitter to taste the world of tweets and social media. 2nd richest person in China pledged $14 million from his foundation to help develop coronavirus vaccine and he would donate 500,000 testing kits and 1 million face masks to the US.
Yes, the world is his by something inevitable in the short-run but its fears have made our unity strong. Help from all around the world is coming amid any kind of difference. Billionaires are losing billions but billionaires are also trying to their best to do something worth remembering.
Summing Up:
This was a small compilation of Forbes real-time billionaires. Through this compilation we can understand that it’s not only a brand or its offices or its employees are feeling the jerk of coronavirus. It the entire market, industry and the visionaries behind every great product or service.
We hope that the fear which has been lingering around since late last year goes away by the earliest and the world is free from this fast-spreading virus.
