The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic may have pushed the world economy into a chaotic situation, with 2020 and 2021 projected to be worse than any of the years since the global financial crisis. However, billionaires, in the selected group of countries, have seen their financial situation improve during the phase of the pandemic, which has been financially painful for most people around the world.
According to a US report, Billionaires have doubled their wealth in the pandemic. Their wealth sees more growth during Covid-19 than in the last 14 years. The total wealth for billionaires stood at around $5 trillion and it is the biggest surge since forever.
The Billionaire Trend
Billionaires in India
Billionaires Who Got Richer
The Billionaire Trend
The sharp surge in the wealth of the richest Americans is being driven by the bounceback of the stock market in the US, primarily driven by the unprecedented action from the US Federal Reserve. Despite the surge in US Covid-19 cases and the record 43 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits, the country had hovered at record highs.
Investors have been buying equities, with Big Tech companies and those linked to healthcare such as Big Pharma and hospital stocks among the major beneficiaries as the US Fed’s emergency responded to the crisis by cutting interest rates to 0% and undertaking to buy unlimited amounts of bond translated into assets such as stocks, despite being risky investments, seeing fresh demand.
During the pandemic crisis, Amazon shares surged nearly 50% while Facebook recovered from the troughs that it hit in the month of March to record highs. Bezos, Facebook founder’s net worth surged over $30 billion since March 18.
A recent study calculated billionaire wealth using data provided by the Forbes Global Billionaires List, an actual assessment of net worth. March 18, 2020, is used as the starting date as it roughly corresponds with the time when the US Government began imposing lockdown restrictions.
“At a time of enormous economic pain and suffering, we have a fundamental choice to make. We can continue to allow the very rich to get much richer while everyone else gets poorer and poorer. Or we can tax the winnings a handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans,” the US Senator Bernie Sanders said.
Billionaires in India
In India, Mukesh Ambani’s net worth rose to nearly $79.3 billion, calculated on August 10, 2020, making him the fourth richest person in the world. Ambani’s wealth rose by $22 billion in 2020. He slowly shifted his focus to e-commerce, with tech giants seeking to buy a piece of India’s fastest-growing digital market.
On the other hand, his conglomerate Reliance Industries was slammed by a decrease in demand for oil amid COVID-19, its share price has more than doubled from the low in March as its digital unit got billions in investments from companies including Facebook and Google.
Major Indian pharma companies’ Share prices were on fire amidst the raging pandemic. Pharma tycoons like of companies like Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma, Divi’s Laboratories, Cipla etc. have doubled their net worth during the crisis. The wealth of Sunil Mittal and Gautam Adani of Adani Group has also grown largely.
There is a severe wealth level of financial inequality, which exists in India, and the fact that during the pandemic that inequality has become much worse. The extraordinary wealth gains that billionaires have earned during the pandemic come at a time when COVID-19 pandemic may double the poverty in India.
Billionaires Who Got Richer
Some of the Worldwide Billionaires who have grown richer and richer even during the Pandemic, they have never ceased to grow and surprise their onlookers.
Steve Ballmer
The former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s net worth has increased tremendously during the pandemic. The tech billionaire had donated around $28 million to coronavirus charities in the month of August. The initial net worth was $52.7 billion and the amount gained was $18.5 billion, summing up the total end net worth $71.2 billion.
Ma Huateng
Chinese advanced technology billionaire Ma Huateng’s wealth has increased by 53.5% during the pandemic. The beginning net worth was $38.1 billion, it rose to end net worth of $58.5 billion with total amount gained $20.4 billion.
Meghashree Das
Mark Zuckerberg
A giant tech company called Facebook, its Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg became 77% richer during the pandemic. He donated $180 million to coronavirus charities as of August in 2020, a drop in the bucket for the tech billionaire. The initial net worth was $54.7 billion, which turned into a net worth of $96.8 billion. Gaining a huge amount of $42.1 billion.
Mukesh Ambani
The net worth of the Indian billionaire, Mukesh Ambani has increased to around $48.4 billion during the pandemic. He donated $68.32 million of the amount and 0.09% of his total net worth to coronavirus causes. The beginning net worth was $36.8 billion, it became the total sum of $85.2 billion. It makes the gained amount as $48.4 billion.
Jeff Bezos
Currently, the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has made most of his profits during the pandemic through his e-commerce site called Amazon. Bezos gave nearly 64.3% of his total net worth to coronavirus causes, which amounts to $127 million worth of donations. The beginning net worth stood at $113 billion and the latest net worth was $185.6 billion, gaining the amount of $72.6 billion.
Conclusion
The worldwide billionaires did extremely well during the global pandemic crisis, growing their already-huge fortunes to a new level. Millions and millions of citizens faced great economic desperation, the already rich Billionaires became richer all this while.
FAQs
Who is the richest man in the world?
Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world with his net worth of $219 billion.
Has billionaires beme richer in pandemic?
Billionaires has increased their wealth duric pandemic.
