The world’s richest people have lost over $500 billion since Donald Trump announced new tariffs against 180 countries, last week, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (BBI). And in the US stock markets, investors have lost $5 trillion combined in investments.
Notably, the top 10 wealthiest on the BBI have shed a collective $353.78 billion, with Warren Buffett being the only exception — the Oracle of Omaha made $12.7 billion.
Now, with netizens blaming Donald Trump for the global markets carnage, some are speculating that the wealthiest would have been better off with Kamala Harris in the White House — despite her plans to impose a so-called “Wealth Tax”.
Trump Tariff Impact: World’s Top 10 Billionaires Lose $535 Billion
Leading the list of wealth losers is Elon Musk, who’s net worth dropped to $302 billion, as per data on BBI till 1 pm IST on April 7. The Tesla, SpaceX and X owner alone lost $130 billion in the post Trump tariff markets rout. Elon Musk remains the richest person in the world according to the BBI, Forbes, and Hurun Rich List 2025.
The second biggest loser was Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (2), who’s net worth dropped by $45.2 billion to $193 billion; followed by Larry Ellison (7) who’s wealth dropped $42.1 billion to $150 billion, as of April 7.
Alphabet co-founder Larry Page (8) lost $34.6 billion to have $134 billion as of April 7, followed by co-founder Sergey Brin (10) who lost $32.2 billion to have an estimated $126 billion.
Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg lost $28.1 billion to remain number 3 with $179 billion total wealth; while Microsoft’s Steve Balmer dropped $19.5 billion to be worth $127 billion, as of April 7.
French billionaire and sole non-American in the BBI top 10, Bernard Arnault dropped $18.6 billion to $158 billion and remains fourth richest in the world. Microsoft’s Bill Gates (5) took a comparatively smaller hit of $3.38 billion for wealth of $155 billion, as of April 7.
While Markets Crash, Warren Buffett Still Gained. How?
The sole green, in the top 10 full of red, Berkshire Hathway’s Warren Buffet (6) gained $12.7 billion for total wealth of $155 billion, till April 7. Notably, the value-oriented investor has long complained about market valuations being too high, and has refrained from using his cash on major acquisitions. This time, Warren Buffett had predicted an impending market downturn.
According to a report by Fortune, Berkshire Hathaway has invested most of its cash in short-term Treasury bills, which have not only provided immunity from bleeding markets now but has also provided a profit to investors at the company. The profits that Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffett made also comes from the stocks that he sold ahead of the market crash.
Netizen Says Kamala Harris’ ‘Wealth Tax’ Would Have Cost Billionaires Less
According to social media user Jerry (@ZacksJerryRig), the mega rich would have been better off with Kamala Harris in the White House — even if she imposed her campaign promise of taxing the billionaires more.
“For reference, if these ultra rich people would have paid Kamalas Wealth Tax, it would have only cost them $36 billion *a year* instead of $500 billion in two days,” the user said.
Notably, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Apple’s Tim Cook, among others had contributed to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund and attended the US President’s inauguration on January 20, 2025.
According to a CNBC report, in August 2024, ahead of the US election campaign Kamala Harris endorsed the tax increases proposed by then US President Joe Biden in his fiscal year 2025 budget. The proposal was for a 25 per cent minimum tax on total income, including so-called “unrealised gains,” or asset growth, exceeding $100 million — aka the “billionaire minimum tax”.
