Being the wealthiest people in the world often means enduring massive financial losses, and Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg experienced just that in the wake of President Trump’s new tariffs, losing a combined $42.6 billion overnight.
It was a striking moment to see many of the world’s richest individuals in the front row at President Trump’s inauguration in January, with their combined net worth exceeding $1.35 trillion.
While one major tech mogul was missing from the event, many others near the top of Forbes’ recently published rich list were present and have also faced financial setbacks due to Trump’s actions. They might be feeling some regret now.
Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos lost $42.6 billion combined overnight through stock market drops (Julia Demaree Nikhinson – Pool/Getty Images)
As reported by The Independent, the three wealthiest people in the world—Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos—suffered a combined loss of $42.6 billion in just a few hours, all due to the market volatility triggered by Trump’s unprecedented tariff measures.
Referred to by the president as “Liberation Day,” the tariffs were imposed on nearly every country, including some with populations as low as zero, and the market reacted negatively overall.
At the time of writing, major tech companies like Meta saw an 8.96% drop in the last 24 hours, while Tesla dropped 5.47%, and Amazon fell by 8.98%.
Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos experienced declines of $8.7 billion, $17.9 billion, and $16 billion in their net worths, respectively. Although this is a small fraction of Musk’s $342 billion fortune, it represents nearly 10% of both Zuckerberg’s and Bezos’ wealth.
Bloomberg estimates that around $208 billion has been wiped from the collective wealth of the world’s 500 richest individuals, marking a significant downturn in a year already troubled by Trump’s earlier tariffs and the DeepSeek AI ‘bubble burst’.
US President Donald Trump’s worldwide tariffs are the likely cause of this sharp decline (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
White House Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously denied that stock market declines were linked to the tariffs, instead attributing the losses to the tech world’s “Magnificent Seven” (Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia) for having “overpriced” stocks and being overly reliant on AI.
Bessent referred to it as a “Mag 7 problem, not a MAGA problem,” but it’s unclear whether the leaders of these tech giants would still share that sentiment now.
Musk’s Tesla has already faced substantial stock market losses this year due to existing tariffs, reports of declining sales, and a growing negative perception of the CEO. It’s been noted that Elon loses approximately $1 billion every time Tesla’s stock drops by just $2.43.
However, just five months ago, in the weeks following Trump’s election victory, these same billionaires saw significant increases in their net worth, as markets anticipated that his return to the presidency would benefit the tech industry.
