The world's 500 richest people suffered their biggest two-day loss in history, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariffs sent markets around the world tumbling, Bloomberg reports.
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Billionaires collectively lost $536 billion from the stock market's opening on Thursday until its close on Friday. The S&P 500 fell 10.5% in two days, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 11.4%.
Friday's $329 billion drop was the biggest since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, surpassing Thursday's $208 billion decline. Nearly 90% of the billionaires tracked by the index suffered losses on Friday, with their net worth down 3.5% on average.
Biggest two-day drop in Bloomberg Billionaires Index history
Who lost the most?
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the biggest loser in two days. The automaker's shares fell more than 10% on Friday, wiping $31 billion off Musk's net worth since trading opened Thursday. His total losses for the year are $130 billion.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg suffered a $27 billion loss as the company's shares fell nearly 14% in two days.
A $2 billion loss in two days has knocked Carvana Co. CEO Ernest Garcia III off the list of the world's 500 richest people, with his used-car company's shares losing 28% in the period.
Nike founder Phil Knight was one of the few winners on Friday, with shares rising 2.8% after Trump said he had a “very productive conversation” with Vietnamese leader To Lam about potentially lifting a 46% tariff imposed the day before on the Southeast Asian nation where much of Nike’s manufacturing is based.
The stock's gains boosted Knight's net worth by $84 million on the day, partially offsetting a $3 billion loss on Thursday.
Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim found himself in the opposite situation. He barely stayed in the black on Thursday after Mexico was removed from a list of countries the U.S. planned to impose tariffs on, giving the country's main index a slight boost.
However, already on Friday, Slim not only lost everything he had earned the day before, but even more – his fortune decreased by $5.5 billion due to the 4.9% fall of the Mexican Bolsa exchange.
Let us recall
US President Donald Trump announced the introduction of duties on all goods imported from abroad. The Republican announced this on Wednesday, April 2, at a press conference in the White House garden. The basic tariff will be 10%, but for many countries it turned out to be higher.
Customs duties on goods from China will be 34%, from EU countries – 20%, from Switzerland – 31%, from Great Britain – 10%, from Ukraine – 10%, from Israel – 17%, from Kazakhstan – 27%. One of the highest duties is imposed on Vietnam (46%), Cambodia (49%), Laos (48%). Russia is not mentioned in the list.
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