The world’s richest billionaires have lost more than $50bn (£37bn) this week as their fortunes – mostly held in technology companies – dropped in a “white knuckle” rout on tech shares.
Elon Musk, the wealthiest person on the planet, saw his fortune fall by $25.8bn in a single day on Thursday, according to the latest data available, as shares in his electric car company, Tesla, fell 11% to their lowest since October.
Despite the dip – which is roughly equivalent to the annual salaries of 615,000 people earning the average UK salary of £31,000 – Musk is still the richest person alive by some distance.
The fortune of Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest person and the founder of Amazon, has fallen by $27.8bn since the start of the year to $164bn, according to Bloomberg’s daily tally of billionaires’ fortunes. Amazon shares have dropped by a quarter since November.
The billionaires’ paper loses come as the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock exchange in New York has suffered its worst start to the year since 2008 as investors sell off “stay at home” stocks that had…
