Foreign Property News | Posted by Si Thu Aung
The past three months have been financially painful for many Americans -- but not for billionaires.
US billionaires have become $565 billion richer since March 18, according to a report published Thursday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank.
Total wealth for billionaires now stands at $3.5 trillion, up 19% from the low point near the beginning of the pandemic, the report said. Amazon (AMZN) boss Jeff Bezos alone is worth $36.2 billion more than he was on March 18.
Since that day, nearly 43 million Americans have filed for initial unemployment benefits. Lower-income workers, especially in travel and service-sector jobs, have been hit particularly hard by the health crisis.
The numbers put an exclamation point on the deep divide between haves and have-nots that is helping to fuel unrest across the United States. Wealth inequality is likely to get even worse because of this crisis, experts say.
The acceleration of wealth for the richest Americans is being driven by the remarkable recovery of the stock market, which has skyrocketed in large part because of unprecedented action from the Federal Reserve.
The Fed's emergency response, including slashing interest rates to zero and promising to buy unlimited amounts of bonds, was designed to make risky assets like stocks look more attractive. Investors have essentially been forced to gamble on equities -- and Big Tech in particular is benefiting from that.
Large tech companies aren't just surviving during the pandemic -- many of them are thriving. The crisis has made Amazon, for instance, even more essential than it already was. Amazon shares have spiked 47% from their mid-March lows.
Facebook (FB) also swiftly recovered to record highs. The net worth of Mark Zuckerberg, the company's co-founder and CEO, has climbed $30.1 billion since March 18, the IPS report found.
The net worth of Tesla (TSLA) boss Elon Musk, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and former Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer have all climbed by $13 billion or more apiece since March 18, the report found.
These include eight billionaires who, as of April 10, have seen wealth gains of over $1 billion.
1.Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO: up $10 billion ($25 billion as of April 15, 2020)
2.Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder and CEO: up $5 billion
3.MacKenzie Bezos, novelist and philanthropist: up $3.5 billion (and up $8.6 billion as of April 15, 2020)
4.Eric Yuan, Zoom founder and CEO: up $2.58 billion
5.Steve Ballmer, Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO: up $2.2 billion
6.John Albert Sobrato, Silicon Valley real estate mogul: up $2.07 billion
7.Joshua Harris, Apollo Global Management cofounder and owner of multiple professional sports teams: up $1.72 billion
8.Rocco Commisso, Mediacom Communications founder and CEO and owner of two professional soccer teams: up $1.09 billion
Ref: CNN, ips-dc.org
