The most affluent people in the world lost a combined total of $279.9 billion over the past 12 months, according to a new study by data analysts at the financial news advisory website TradingPedia.
Jeff Bezos lost the most personal wealth at $57 billion, leaving him with $114 billion compared to last year’s $171 billion. Bezos’ drop is $18 billion more than Elon Musk‘s loss of $39 billion. The losses follow turbulent times for tech companies, which have had mass layoffs over the last year.
Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page lost a combined $62.8 billion over the past 12 months, almost double what Microsoft’s founders lost. According to the report, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer posted a combined loss of $35.7 billion.
The study suggests that Google’s founders’ net worth drop follows the release of the company’s AI service, Bard, in February 2023. After the chatbot publicly gave the wrong answer to a question, per NPR, shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, fell around 7%.
RELATED: Google’s Bard Already Made A Fact Error — In Its Wake, the Company’s Value Dropped By $100 Billion
Image credit: Courtesy of TradingPedia.com
Other billionaires who lost big this year include Gautam Adani, Warren Buffet, MacKenzie Scott, and Robin Zeng.
RELATED: Google and Meta Execs Rake in Big Bonuses Despite Industry-Wide Layoffs