America’s richest lost $660 billion collectively in 2022 — Elon Musk lost the most

Billionaires have had a bad year.

Globally, the world’s billionaires lost nearly $2 trillion, combined, in 2022, according to Forbes. The United States’ billionaires lost $660 billion collectively, the highest of any country by Forbes’s count, as tech stock prices took a nosedive fueled by rising interest rates, soaring inflation and a worsening economy.

Of America’s billionaires, Tesla, SpaceX, and newly minted Twitter CEO Elon Musk saw his fortune diminish the most. Musk’s net worth dipped by about $115 billion this year, according to Forbes. In October, when Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, he sold off about $23 billion in Tesla shares to fund the acquisition. He has since acknowledged this deal was an “obvious” overpayment. More recently, he confirmed his plans to step down as CEO of the social media platform once he finds a suitable replacement.

Tesla’s stock price is down nearly 70% year-to-date, as of Dec. 27. Longtime Tesla investors are calling on its board of directors to get Musk to refocus on the electric vehicle company. Although Musk lost his spot as the richest person in the world this year, he’s still the wealthiest person in the United States, with a net worth of nearly $139 billion as of Dec. 27, according to Forbes.

And while Musk is “the biggest loser of 2022,” according to that publication, he’s not the only billionaire whose net worth took a hit. Here’s how much five other U.S. billionaires lost in 2022 according to Forbes.

1. Jeff Bezos

Title: Founder and chair, Amazon

Estimated 2022 losses: -$80 billion

Net worth: $106.8 billion as of Dec. 27

2. Mark Zuckerberg

Title: Co-founder, Meta Platforms (Facebook’s parent company)

Estimated 2022 losses: -$78 billion

Net worth: $42.7 billion as of Dec. 27

3. Larry Page

Title: Co-founder and board member, Google

Estimated 2022 losses: -$40 billion

Net worth: $76.8 billion as of Dec. 27

4. Phil Knight

Title: Chair, Nike

Estimated 2022 losses: -$18.3 billion

Net worth: $45.2 billion as of Dec. 27

5. Leonard Lauder

Title: Chair emeritus , The Estée Lauder Companies

Estimated 2022 losses: -$9.8 billion

Net worth: $22 billion as of Dec. 27

Some high-profile moguls completely dropped off of the billionaires list in 2022. Rapper Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, fell from the ranks after Adidas cut ties with him on Oct. 25 amid his continued anti-Semitic remarks, for example.

And Sam Bankman-Fried went from Fortune magazine cover star to potential felon. The founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, who is now charged with fraud, saw his net worth plummet by billions after FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11

Ref: America’s richest lost $660 billion collectively in 2022 — Elon Musk lost the most (cnbc)