Billionaires made dramatically richer and poorer by COVID-19
The mega-rich individuals who have made and lost the most money
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The coronavirus pandemic has seen some mega-rich individuals profit spectacularly, while others have seen their respective net worths nosedive. Using the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as a guide, we reveal the billionaires who have lost and gained the most since the beginning of 2020. Click or scroll through to find out who they are. Net worth figures as of 26 August. All dollar values in US dollars.
Sergey Brin: +$11.2 billion (£8.5bn)
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Starting with the winners, Sergey Brin, co-founder and former president of Google's parent company Alphabet, has seen his fortunes increase $11.2 billion (£8.5bn) since the start of the year. That's largely due to his shares in the tech giant, which reached a $1 trillion (£760m) valuation at the beginning of this year. However, not everything has been rosy for Alphabet: its second-quarter revenues were $38.3 billion (£29.1bn), which was slightly better than expected, but still 2% lower than revenues for the same period last year.
Wang Xing: +$11.6 billion (£8.8bn)
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Next up is Chinese billionaire Wang Xing, who co-chairs Meituan Dianping, one of the world's largest on-demand delivery services. The business is run through group-buying site Dianping.com, where users can find deals on local products and services, including food delivery. The site offers a deal of the day through vouchers. And Xing has made his own sweet deal from the business, seeing his wealth grow $11.6 billion (£8.8bn) since the beginning of 2020.
Larry Page: +$11.6 billion (£8.8bn)
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Pang Kang: +$11.7 billion (£8.9bn)
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Abigail Johnson: +$12 billion (£9.1bn)
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William Ding: +$12.2 billion (£9.2bn)
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Qin Yinglin: +$13.5 billion (£10.3bn)
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Dubbed the "pork king" of China, Qin Yinglin is head of the Muyuan Foods empire, which breeds and sells livestock. His farms raised and sold 10 million pigs last year and coronavirus doesn't seem to have hit the company too hard: by March, stocks were up 150% year-on-year. Which is good news for Qin's fortune, which has grown by $13.5 billion (£10.3bn) since January.
Elon Musk: +$15.3 billion (£12.2bn)
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Tesla stock, along with Elon Musk's wealth, has been performing brilliantly on the whole this year despite Musk's penchant for penning damaging tweets, including the one he put out on 1 May claiming the Tesla share price was “too high”, which caused it to tank it by 10%. As well as winning plaudits for pivoting production to ventilators and PPE, Tesla sold its millionth vehicle in April. On 19 July, the South African-born billionaire became the world's fourth richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, overtaking Bernard Arnault, chairman of Louis Vuitton.
Pony Ma: +$15.9 billion (£12.1bn)
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Ma Huateng, also known as Pony Ma, is the chairman and major shareholder of tech conglomerate Tencent, one of China's most successful companies, which owns businesses such as social messaging app WeChat. And China's richest man has seen his wealth grow even further during the pandemic as the importance of social media has been underlined, with his net worth leaping by $15.9 billion (£12.1bn).
Steve Ballmer: +$19.6 billion (£14.9bn)
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Microsoft has been booming over these past few months based to a large degree on the success of its video conferencing tools Teams and Skype, which have been many peoples' go-tos during lockdown. And its stock has been hitting record highs. This is clearly very good news for former CEO and major shareholder Steve Ballmer, who is $19.6 billion (£14.9bn) richer than he was at the start of the year.
Mukesh Ambani: +$20.4 billion (£15.5bn)
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MacKenzie Scott: +$27.3 billion (£20.8bn)
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MacKenzie Scott bagged a 4% stake in Amazon following her much-publicised divorce from company founder, CEO and president Jeff Bezos. The e-commerce and cloud computing giant has enjoyed stellar sales during the pandemic, which has sent its share price into the stratosphere, as well as Scott's personal fortune.
Mark Zuckerberg: +$27.9 billion (£21.2bn)
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Social media usage has climbed to an all-time high during the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook has been one of the key beneficiaries of this increase in activity and at the end of the second quarter of this year its stock prices had risen 11% year-on year, beating analysts' estimates. Mark Zuckerberg's fortune has grown accordingly, up $27.9 billion (£21.2bn) since the beginning of 2020.
Dan Gilbert: +$37.2 billion (£28.3bn)
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Jeff Bezos: +$81.9 billion (£62.3bn)
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Drum roll please... the biggest winner is none other than Jeff Bezos. As we've mentioned, Amazon sales have flourished and the company share price hit a record of around $3,200 per share on 13 July. Bezos' net worth has increased in tandem, up from $115.1 billion (£87.5bn) to a massive $197 billion (£149.8bn).
Joseph Safra: -$3.83 billion (£2.9bn)
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Jorge Paulo Lemann: -$4.35 billion (£3.3bn)
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Gennady Timchenko: -$4.38 billion (£3.3bn)
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Russian oligarch Gennady Timchenko has seen his wealth fall by $4.38 billion (£3.3bn) in 2020 so far. That's perhaps not surprising when you consider the nature of the billionaire's investments. Known for his links to the oil and gas industry, Timchenko's 17.7% share in SIBUR, the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe, is likely to have had an impact on the billionaire's wealth as the company has struggled to contend with oil prices plunging across the globe due to the increased crude oil supply and pandemic lockdown measures. The investor also has a stake in gas company Novatek.
Harold Hamm: -$4.62 billion (£3.5bn)
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Leonid Mikhelson: -$4.69 billion (£3.6bn)
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Leonardo del Vecchio: -$4.81 billion (£3.6bn)
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Vagit Alekperov: -$4.91 billion (£3.7bn)
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Charles Koch: -$5.09 billion (£3.9bn)
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Julia Flesher Koch: -$5.09 billion (£3.9bn)
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Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi: -$6.83 billion (£5.2bn)
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Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi presides over a sprawling drinks, real estate and retail empire that includes Thai Beverage and chains such as Big C Supercenter, none of which have been doing well during the pandemic. Sirivadhanabhakdi has been feeling the effects in his pocket with his fortune currently standing at $12.8 billion (£9.7bn), down from $19.6 billion (£15.7bn) at the start of January.
Sheldon Adelson: -$8.42 billion (£6.4bn)
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Warren Buffett: -$8.62 billion (£6.5bn)
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Carlos Slim Helú: -$14.2 billion (£10.8bn)
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The former richest person in the world has an even longer way to go to catch up with the likes of Jeff Bezos following an enormous loss of $14.2 billion (£10.8bn) so far this year. Shares in Carlos Slim Helú's América Móvil company, which is the largest mobile operator in Latin America, have dropped from $16.26 (£12.31) a share to $12.25 (£9.20) a share since the beginning of this year, according to data available on 28 August.
Amancio Ortega: -$16 billion (£12.1bn)
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Amancio Ortega has taken an even bigger bashing, having parted with $16 billion (£12.1bn) since the start of 2020. The Spanish retail magnate's Inditex Group, which counts fast-fashion chains Zara and Massimo Dutti in its portfolio, has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic as physical stores around the world have closed their doors and customers have stayed away.
Read more about Amancio Ortega's rags-to-riches tale
Bernard Arnault: -$20 billion (£15.1bn)
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The biggest loser by far, Bernard Arnault has bid adieu to a whopping $20 billion (£15.1bn) and his centibillionaire status to boot, with his fortune currently at $85.3 billion (£64.6bn) according to Bloomberg. As we've mentioned, the high-end fashion and luxury goods sector has been blighted by the pandemic and the operating profits of LVMH, which Arnault controls, fell by 68% in the first half of the year.
Find out more about LMVH's pandemic efforts and other companies that joined the fight against coronavirus
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