The richest businessmen who supported Trump have already lost more than $200 billion
Date: 2025-03-11 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: ECONOMY
When Donald Trump took the oath of office on January 20, he was surrounded by the richest people in the world, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Five of the rich people present at the ceremony have already lost $209 billion due to the actions of the new US president.
Bloomberg writes that the period between Trump's election and his inauguration was favorable for the richest people in the world. Investors rushed to the stock and cryptocurrency markets, expecting that the new president's policies would be beneficial for business.
Shares of Musk's Tesla Inc. rose by 98% in the weeks after the election, reaching a record high. Arnault's LVMH gained 7% in the week before Inauguration Day, making the French tycoon $12 billion richer. Even Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms Inc., which banned Trump from the social network in 2021, has risen 9% ahead of his new term and another 20% in his first four weeks in office.
But any expectations that Trump’s new term would continue to boost market returns have been dashed. The S&P 500 has lost 6.4% since Trump took office as massive government layoffs and the president’s tariff decisions have hammered stocks, with the benchmark index falling 2.7% on March 10.
The billionaires’ companies who attended the inauguration have been the biggest losers, with a combined $1.39 trillion in market value since January 17.
Elon Musk has lost $148 billion. Much of his gains came from Tesla, whose shares have nearly doubled since the election. The electric car maker has since given up all its gains. Consumers in Europe have grown disillusioned with Musk’s support for far-right politicians, and Tesla’s sales in Germany have fallen more than 70% in the first two months of 2025. Chinese shipments also fell 49% last month to July 2022 levels.
Jeff Bezos has lost $29 billion. Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund in December, and Bezos had lunch with the president last month — the same day he announced his newspaper would prioritize personal freedoms and free markets. Amazon shares have fallen 14% since Jan. 17.
Sergey Brin has lost $22 billion. The 51-year-old billionaire still holds a 6% stake in Alphabet Inc. After Trump was re-elected in November 2024, Brin dined with him at Mar-a-Lago. The company’s shares fell more than 7% in early February after the company missed its quarterly profit estimate.
Mark Zuckerberg lost $5 billion. Meta was one of the biggest gainers among tech stocks at the start of the year. Even as other big, influential companies were falling, Meta’s shares rose 19% from mid-January to mid-February, but the company’s shares have since fallen sharply.
Bernard Arnault also lost $5 billion. His family owns the luxury goods conglomerate behind brands like Louis Vuitton and Bulgari. After falling for much of 2024, LVMH shares jumped more than 20% from before the election to the end of January. Things have since taken a turn for the worse. Analysts at Morningstar said last month that tariffs of 10% to 20% on European luxury goods could hurt sales that are already in disarray.
