US President Donald Trump had the five richest men behind his back literally and figuratively during his inauguration in January and now, they’re heavily paying the price.
Those five were Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bernard Arnault, and Sergey Brin. Why Musk was there was self-explanatory as he has been nothing but vocal about his support for the current president. With the others, however, it was an uncommon sight.
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It was a big day for Trump
January 20 was a massive day in US history and for Trump as he took his second term in office and immediately jumped into work, creating plenty of executive orders.
These orders included imposing high tariffs worldwide, an LGBTQ+ pride flag ban, and the highly controversial two-genders order.
It was also a big day for the five billionaires
Turns out, the five men lavished on a stock market increase and the financial gains it brought in the wake of their inauguration attendance.
At first, all parties were happy, but weeks later, the stock market expressed its anger and now, they’re left with less than what they used to have before the inauguration.
The losses were staggering
In just seven weeks the billionaires lost $209 billion combined, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The publication added that the exponential loss was due to the S&P 500 index dropping by almost seven percent since Trump took over in the office.
How Musk and Bezos suffered
Musk’s Tesla sales plummeted down by over 70% after Trump took over due to Musk’s political affiliations. His fortune suffered a $145 billion loss.
As for Bezos, Amazon had donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, which in turn led to Bezos losing $31 billion as Amazon sales decreased by 15%
Brin and Zuckerburg’s losses
The Google (Alphabet Inc.) co-founder with six percent of the shares. His shares fell by over seven percent following the company’s missed quarterly revenue estimates, costing him a total of $23 billion.
Zuckerburg and his company, Meta, however, suffered a lesser loss as the stunt only cost him $8 billion after The Magnificent Seven index dropped by 21% from its mid-December peak.
Arnault’s loss was the least worst of them
Arnault’s family owns the conglomerate (LVMH) behind fashion designers Louis Vuitton and Bulgari, and he suffered a loss of $5 billion.
The loss goes back to the 10-20% tariff imposed on European luxury goods by Trump. Morningstar analysts confirmed that the tariffs could reduce Arnault’s already struggling sales.