The net worth of America’s richest billionaires fell on Tuesday as higher-than-expected US inflation data roiled Wall Street. Jeff Bezos’ wealth fell by $9.8 billion in a single day, the most of any billionaire tracked by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s net worth has dropped by $8.4 billion. According to Bloomberg data, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Steve Ballmer all lost more than $4 billion, while Warren Buffett and Bill Gates lost $3.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively. Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, was founded by Jeff Bezos. The Seattle-based company’s flagship website sells electronics, household goods, and other products. He also owns Blue Origin, a space exploration company.
Musk is the CEO of Tesla, a company that sells electric vehicles and home solar batteries. Musk is also the CEO of SpaceX, a rocket manufacturer chosen by NASA to resupply the International Space Station, and he owns a stake in Twitter.
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranks the world’s wealthiest people on a daily basis. The figures are updated at the end of each New York trading day.
According to Labor Department data, the US consumer price index (CPI) increased 0.1% in August after remaining unchanged in July. Prices increased 8.3% year on year, a slight slowdown but still more than the median estimate of 8.1%. The so-called core CPI, which excludes the more volatile food and energy components, also exceeded expectations.
After the hotter-than-expected report, Wall Street shares plunged, with the Dow losing nearly 1,300 points and the S&P 500 falling 4.3 percent, as the Federal Reserve prepares for its next interest rate decision next week. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has stated that interest rate hikes will continue until inflation is controlled. This year’s global inflation has been fueled by skyrocketing energy and food prices.
Stocks had risen in recent days as investors hoped that slowing price increases would allow the Federal Reserve to ease up on its tough anti-inflation stance, but the data dashed those hopes for the time being.
