•Elon Musk and Donald Trump
The latest Forbes report has highlighted how Tech giants such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and America’s wealthiest individuals collectively lost more than $300 billion in the first 100 days of President Donald J. Trump’s second term.
Since January 20, Musk’s fortune has shrunk by more than $45 billion, the largest individual decline among U.S. billionaires, reports AFP.
The report said the U.S. stock market posted its worst start to a presidential term in 50 years.
S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down nearly 8% each amid a trade war fueled by President Trump’s renewed focus on tariffs.
Tesla, owned by Musk, has fallen 33% amid investor concerns about supply chain disruptions and his increasingly contentious political alignments.
The entrepreneur, who had once championed Trump’s initiative to streamline government operations, has since distanced himself from the administration, trading public barbs with senior trade adviser Peter Navarro on social media.
Among the top ten hardest hit are Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (down $34.8 billion), Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page (down $25.6 billion and $27.4 billion, respectively), and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg (down $21.5 billion).
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a vocal Trump supporter and participant in a proposed $500 billion AI infrastructure plan, has seen his wealth tumble by $28.2 billion. Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, who reversed his initial decision to stay out of Trump’s 2024 campaign, is now nearly $11 billion poorer.
Despite the downturn, Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has emerged as the biggest winner of Trump’s early presidency.
With a record of $334 billion in cash and cash equivalents, Buffett’s holdings have weathered market turmoil, with his company’s shares up 13% and his fortune swelling by $19.6 billion.
Peter Thiel and Palantir CEO Alexander Karp have also gained, buoyed by lucrative federal contracts. The Walton heirs, Rob, Jim, and Alice, have each added over $3 billion as Walmart profits from inflation-driven consumer demand.
President Trump was also not spared, as his net worth dropped by $1.5 billion, largely due to a 35% plunge in the stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social.
