Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos lose close to $18 billion as US inflation data roil stock markets

Top billionaires, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla chief Elon Musk, lost billions on Tuesday after Wall Street saw a bloodbath due to a broad sell-off in the stock market after higher-than-expected US inflation data was released. As per reports, the headline consumer price index increased 0.1 per cent in August and was up 8.3 per cent from a year ago. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Jeff Bezos lost around $9.8 billion (around Rs 80,000 crore), while Musk’s net worth dropped by $8.4 billion (around Rs 70,000 crore).  

As per reports, all three major US stock indices, Dow Jones, S&P, and Nasdaq, slumped to new lows after clocking their biggest one-day percentage drops since June 2020 after the Covid-19 pandemic. The markets had reported four-day winning streaks this week, making it beneficial for the investors. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 1,276.37 points, or 3.94 per cent, to 31,104.97, the S&P 500 lost 177.72 points, or 4.32 per cent, to 3,932.69, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 632.84 points, or 5.16 per cent, to 11,633.57. All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 ended the session deep in red territory. 

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Other top billionaires, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Steve Ballmer, lost more than $4 billion. While star investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates lost $3.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, as per the released Bloomberg data.  

US inflation has been wreaking havoc in the market since the first quarter of 2022, except in the month of July, when the markets bounced. From 8.6 per cent in May, US inflation rose to 9.1 per cent in June and later fell to 8.5 per cent in July. As per global market experts, though there are chances that US CPI data shows a dip in the coming months, the core inflation will remain a concern for economists, analysts, and investors. 

Bezos is the founder of Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, and also owns space exploration company Blue Origin. Musk owns Tesla and is also the chief executive of SpaceX. He also owns a stake in social networking company Twitter and is fighting a legal battle over its takeover deal. 

Last month (on August 27), Bezos and Musk collectively lost around $12 billion after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made it clear in his speech at Kansas City Fed’s annual policy forum in Jackson Hole that the Fed will keep raising interest rates to stamp out inflation.

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According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk lost $5.5 billion, whereas Bezos lost $6.8 billion. Besides, Gates and Buffett lost $2.2 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. Sergey Brin’s fortune plunged below $100 billion, as per Bloomberg data. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index tracks the wealth of the world’s richest people, which is updated daily at the close of every trading day in New York.