Key Takeaways:
– Post the U.S. election result, the world’s 10 richest individuals saw their net worth surge drastically.
– Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO realized the most significant profit, with his net worth jumping by $26.5 billion.
– Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, and Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder, added over $7.1 billion and $5.5 billion to their fortunes respectively.
– The stock portfolios of these high net worth individuals likely boosted due to the election results.
– The U.S stock market indices hit record highs following Trump’s victory.
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In the week after the U.S. election, the top of the billionaire club experienced a sudden boost in their net worth. The big news here is the increase in the fortunes of not just one or two, but the world’s top 10 billionaires! According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the collective wealth of these high-flyers rose by an impressive $64 billion. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, saw the biggest leap in his net worth by a whopping $26.5 billion.
Elon Musk’s Trump Win Payoff
Musk recently became a lot richer, and his net worth now stands at around $290 billion. That’s right, the election result was literally a billion-dollar night for Musk!
Bezos and Ellison Follow Suit
The world’s wealthiest didn’t stop there. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Oracle’s Larry Ellison also saw their fortunes increase massively after the election results. Bezos added over $7.1 billion to his wealth, while Ellison, who is a Trump supporter, grew his fortune by more than $5.5 billion.
Microsoft Moguls Make Bank
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, the big guys at Microsoft, were not left behind in this billionaire bonanza. Gates’ net worth saw an upswing of nearly $2 billion, bumping him up to a net worth of $159 billion. Balmer saw his riches increase by $2.81 billion, making his total net worth a staggering $146 billion.
Page, Brin and Buffet Enjoy Bumper Boosts
Google executives Larry Page and Sergey Brin, along with Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, also witnessed a significant rise in their net worths. Notably none of these individuals publicly endorsed a candidate in this election cycle.
Why Did Billionaire Net Worths Soar?
You might be wondering why these incredibly rich people just got even richer. The answer likely lies in their large stock portfolios. Many ultra-rich folks, including those we’ve mentioned, hold the majority of their wealth in company stocks. So when their company values surge, their fortunes see a colossal rise too.
And surge they did! The key U.S. stock market indices – Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 Index all hit new records after Trump was announced as the President-elect. It’s safe to conclude that most investors were hopeful about the business and tax benefits his second term will bring.
Trump’s Pro-Business Approach
That optimism among investors is not baseless. One of Trump’s major triumphs during his first term was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. This law largely benefitted the elite, providing them with considerable tax cuts.
The Richest Get Richer
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that by 2025, the top one percent income earners are projected to see an average tax cut of approximately $60,000. When compared to the total value of tax cuts received by the bottom 60 percent, the tax cuts garnered by the top 1 to 5 percent are triple. Hence, it seems, the rich are not just getting richer, but they are doing so at a significantly faster pace than the rest.
The big question that remains now is how these massive wealth boosts will impact the economy and the ordinary people. Will the super-rich use their post-election windfall for good or will it simply widen the wealth gap further? Only time will answer that. But for now, the top tenners of the billionaire index certainly have a lot to cheer about!