Jeff Bezos loses $15bn in one day, as Amazon stocks slump

Jeff Bezos saw a staggering $15 billion drop in his wealth in a single day following a significant stock slump that impacted the world’s 500 richest individuals, including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, resulting in an overall loss of $134 billion.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon.com Inc. shares plummeted by 8.8 percent on Friday amidst a broader market sell-off. This downturn reduced Bezos’ net worth to $191.5 billion, primarily because a substantial portion of his wealth is tied up in Amazon.

Throughout this year, Bezos has been actively selling Amazon shares, amounting to $8.5 billion in February, with plans to divest an additional $5 billion worth of shares, which would leave him with 912 million shares, equivalent to 8.8 percent of the stock.

The report noted that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms Inc. shares also fell by 1.9 percent, causing a loss of over $3 billion in his wealth. Elon Musk’s net worth decreased by $6.6 billion as Tesla shares dropped by 4.2 percent.

Friday’s $15.2 billion decline marks the third-largest reduction in Bezos’ wealth, following a $36 billion decrease after his divorce in April 2019 and a 14 percent decline in Amazon shares in April 2022.

The recent downturn in Amazon’s stock follows the company’s announcement that it intends to continue substantial investments in artificial intelligence, despite investor concerns that this year’s AI-driven gains may be overstated.

Other Fortune 500 billionaires were also affected, such as Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp., who saw his wealth decline by $4.4 billion, and tech titans Sergey Brin and Larry Page, each experiencing losses exceeding $3 billion.

The repercussions of Friday’s Nasdaq index decline extended into Monday, with global stock markets continuing to plummet amidst fears that the US economy might be heading towards a recession. Japan experienced its worst sell-off since ‘Black Monday’ in 1987, further exacerbating market concerns.